Quick and dirty tips for writing historical horror |
![[FEATURE] A GIGANTIC SOUNDTRACK BY ASHLEY STOKES](../../uploads/3/4/5/1/34519054/feature-a-gigantic-soundtrack-by-ashley-stokes_orig.jpg) | The role of music in my own stories is often not to provide the background vibe but an initial prompt, an encounter with an atmosphere that leads to a mental glimpse or image, or a lyric or title that comes to have associations or suggestions for me. Music becomes text. |
In early versions of my novel Gigantic, its lead character, Kevin Stubbs, suburban Bigfoot hunter and Arch-Knower, robustly asserted a hatred of all music beyond ‘Theme from King Kong’ by Geoff Love and his Orchestra and ‘In the Air Tonight’ by Phil Collins, the lyrics of which provided something of a mantra. Beyond a reference to Kevin’s collaborator, Derek Funnel, trying to join legendary Sutton Jamiroquai tribute band Hominid Rex when he confuses them with a gigantopithecus research group, and a later relaxation of Kev’s anti-music puritanism – he now admits to some familiarity with the songs and cover art of Marillion – providing a playlist that matches the action of Gigantic is a challenge. High Fidelity this ain’t.
I rarely listen to music when I write and never when I am writing my own fiction. I am sitting here listening to John Barry’s King Kong OST as I type this and it’s giving my concentration a right load of stress and grief. If I do listen to music, if I am editing or ghost-writing, it will be neo-classical, ambient or drone, Dustin O’Halloran, Harold Budd or Winged Victory for the Sullen, etc., nothing that will remind anyone of anything that happens in Gigantic. The role of music in my own stories is often not to provide the background vibe but an initial prompt, an encounter with an atmosphere that leads to a mental glimpse or image, or a lyric or title that comes to have associations or suggestions for me. Music becomes text. Obsessively listening to the Burial songs ‘Come Down to Us’ and ‘Subtemple’ did lead to the story Subtemple (Black Static, 78/79). I once coded the titles of all ten Felt albums into ten consecutive short stories, most obviously in Forever Breathes the Lonely Word (Fleeting, 2012). No one noticed this striking move for mass-acceptance on my part. I am quite synaesthesic and can easily experience music as something else: narrative, cinema, an environment, an inner world, language, architecture, muscle. None of my characters in Gigantic have this sort of relationship with music. They have this sort of relationship with information, with intelligence and facts, or lack of.
Gigantic is the story of Kevin Stubbs and his associates, top cryptozoologist Derek Funnel and proper scientist Maxine Cash, and how they respond to the possible sighting of a legendary apeman in Sutton, the co-called North Surrey Gigantopithecus. It’s told dossier-style, a report with annotations. It’s the last great quest story, a bold adventure. If it needs a soundtrack, these are the songs.
Click here to listen to a Gigantic soundtrack Spotify playlist. Here’s why I chose the songs.
1. Gigantic - Pixies THEME FROM GIGANTIC: Title music to establish the sense of earth-shattering revelation that only a bigfoot sighting in Sutton can conjure. The Pixies didn’t record a song called ‘North Surrey Gigantopithecus’ because the phrase doesn’t quite work as a punchy chorus, so this will have to do.
2. Last of the Legendary Bigfoot Hunters – Luke Haines and Peter Buck KEVIN’S THEME: At last, a proper song about cryptid hunting in northern Surrey, and what a belter it is, too. ‘Snap the hairy fucker with my wide fucking angle’. Haines is from north Surrey and he gets it. Kev would have chucked away his one Phil Collins 7” single if he’d heard ‘Last of the Legendary Bigfoot Hunters’. Just imagine it playing in Kev’s head as he sweeps Banstead Common with two grand’s worth of thermal imaging camera, aka The Heat Ray.
3. Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World – The Divine Comedy
THEME FROM ARTHUR C. DAD: Episode Three of the 1980 ITV documentary series Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World: The Missing Apes has almost religious significance for Kevin, and its title music – ‘a kind of Bontempi organ version of Thus Spoke Zarathustra from 2001’ – still resonates in his soul. That music isn’t available on Spotify, so we have to suffer this fey weedy bollocks instead.
4. Thus Spoke Zarathustra – 2001: A Space Odyssey Soundtrack
BONUS TRACK: Included to compensate for ‘Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World’ by The Divine Comedy. It is not a coincidence that Arthur C. Clarke wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey and Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World: The Missing Apes, and both feature proper sightings of relict hominids.
5. In the Air Tonight – Phil Collins
MANIFESTATION: What plays in Kev’s head when entertaining the prospect that there is something in the trees and it’s gigantic. The brink of fulfilment, realisation, dream-actualisation. The end of the hero’s rainbow.
6. Theme from King Kong – Movie Soundtracks Unlimited
REVELATION: Geoff Love’s version of ‘Theme from King Kong’ isn’t on Spotify but at least there isn’t a Divine Comedy attack on this sacred passage of canonical gigantopithecus music. It’s best experienced on repeat in the cab of Kev’s white van while it’s parked up near Beddington Sewage Works or at Chaldon Trig Point.
7. Grendel – Marillion
DEREK FUNNEL’S THEME: ‘Weird music was playing. It was like The Funnel was stuck in an early Genesis LP, or the track by that Marillion, “Grendel”, the one that bollocks on for so long that you want to top yourself, but it had been playing over and over and over again and it was driving the whole world suicidal.’ Thus spoke Kevin Stubbs. ‘Grendel’ is as long as watching the Patterson-Gimlin film seventeen times. I know this because Kevin knows this. Mark E. Smith once compared Marillion to a miserable Scottish hotel.
8. She Blinded Me With Science – Thomas Dolby
MAXINE’S THEME: Maxine Cash, team leader of the Gigantopithecus Intelligence team and arch-nemesis and baffling female object to Kevin and Derek Funnel, always attempts to blind with science, with mixed results. This song possesses something of her chilly grace.
9. The Man who Sold the World – David Bowie
GORGO’S THEME: Maxine’s predecessor and second, non-Arthur C. Dad father figure to Kevin is Eddie ‘Gorgo’ Gartree, the man who started it all and the man always on the look out to make contact, contacts and do deals with bent coppers and the masons. Mr Big. The Presidential Candidate.
10. R.O.D – The Fall
THEME FROM GIGANTOPITHECUS: ‘It’s approaching, six-hundred pounds, gas and flesh.’ Nuff said.
I rarely listen to music when I write and never when I am writing my own fiction. I am sitting here listening to John Barry’s King Kong OST as I type this and it’s giving my concentration a right load of stress and grief. If I do listen to music, if I am editing or ghost-writing, it will be neo-classical, ambient or drone, Dustin O’Halloran, Harold Budd or Winged Victory for the Sullen, etc., nothing that will remind anyone of anything that happens in Gigantic. The role of music in my own stories is often not to provide the background vibe but an initial prompt, an encounter with an atmosphere that leads to a mental glimpse or image, or a lyric or title that comes to have associations or suggestions for me. Music becomes text. Obsessively listening to the Burial songs ‘Come Down to Us’ and ‘Subtemple’ did lead to the story Subtemple (Black Static, 78/79). I once coded the titles of all ten Felt albums into ten consecutive short stories, most obviously in Forever Breathes the Lonely Word (Fleeting, 2012). No one noticed this striking move for mass-acceptance on my part. I am quite synaesthesic and can easily experience music as something else: narrative, cinema, an environment, an inner world, language, architecture, muscle. None of my characters in Gigantic have this sort of relationship with music. They have this sort of relationship with information, with intelligence and facts, or lack of.
Gigantic is the story of Kevin Stubbs and his associates, top cryptozoologist Derek Funnel and proper scientist Maxine Cash, and how they respond to the possible sighting of a legendary apeman in Sutton, the co-called North Surrey Gigantopithecus. It’s told dossier-style, a report with annotations. It’s the last great quest story, a bold adventure. If it needs a soundtrack, these are the songs.
Click here to listen to a Gigantic soundtrack Spotify playlist. Here’s why I chose the songs.
1. Gigantic - Pixies THEME FROM GIGANTIC: Title music to establish the sense of earth-shattering revelation that only a bigfoot sighting in Sutton can conjure. The Pixies didn’t record a song called ‘North Surrey Gigantopithecus’ because the phrase doesn’t quite work as a punchy chorus, so this will have to do.
2. Last of the Legendary Bigfoot Hunters – Luke Haines and Peter Buck KEVIN’S THEME: At last, a proper song about cryptid hunting in northern Surrey, and what a belter it is, too. ‘Snap the hairy fucker with my wide fucking angle’. Haines is from north Surrey and he gets it. Kev would have chucked away his one Phil Collins 7” single if he’d heard ‘Last of the Legendary Bigfoot Hunters’. Just imagine it playing in Kev’s head as he sweeps Banstead Common with two grand’s worth of thermal imaging camera, aka The Heat Ray.
3. Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World – The Divine Comedy
THEME FROM ARTHUR C. DAD: Episode Three of the 1980 ITV documentary series Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World: The Missing Apes has almost religious significance for Kevin, and its title music – ‘a kind of Bontempi organ version of Thus Spoke Zarathustra from 2001’ – still resonates in his soul. That music isn’t available on Spotify, so we have to suffer this fey weedy bollocks instead.
4. Thus Spoke Zarathustra – 2001: A Space Odyssey Soundtrack
BONUS TRACK: Included to compensate for ‘Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World’ by The Divine Comedy. It is not a coincidence that Arthur C. Clarke wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey and Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World: The Missing Apes, and both feature proper sightings of relict hominids.
5. In the Air Tonight – Phil Collins
MANIFESTATION: What plays in Kev’s head when entertaining the prospect that there is something in the trees and it’s gigantic. The brink of fulfilment, realisation, dream-actualisation. The end of the hero’s rainbow.
6. Theme from King Kong – Movie Soundtracks Unlimited
REVELATION: Geoff Love’s version of ‘Theme from King Kong’ isn’t on Spotify but at least there isn’t a Divine Comedy attack on this sacred passage of canonical gigantopithecus music. It’s best experienced on repeat in the cab of Kev’s white van while it’s parked up near Beddington Sewage Works or at Chaldon Trig Point.
7. Grendel – Marillion
DEREK FUNNEL’S THEME: ‘Weird music was playing. It was like The Funnel was stuck in an early Genesis LP, or the track by that Marillion, “Grendel”, the one that bollocks on for so long that you want to top yourself, but it had been playing over and over and over again and it was driving the whole world suicidal.’ Thus spoke Kevin Stubbs. ‘Grendel’ is as long as watching the Patterson-Gimlin film seventeen times. I know this because Kevin knows this. Mark E. Smith once compared Marillion to a miserable Scottish hotel.
8. She Blinded Me With Science – Thomas Dolby
MAXINE’S THEME: Maxine Cash, team leader of the Gigantopithecus Intelligence team and arch-nemesis and baffling female object to Kevin and Derek Funnel, always attempts to blind with science, with mixed results. This song possesses something of her chilly grace.
9. The Man who Sold the World – David Bowie
GORGO’S THEME: Maxine’s predecessor and second, non-Arthur C. Dad father figure to Kevin is Eddie ‘Gorgo’ Gartree, the man who started it all and the man always on the look out to make contact, contacts and do deals with bent coppers and the masons. Mr Big. The Presidential Candidate.
10. R.O.D – The Fall
THEME FROM GIGANTOPITHECUS: ‘It’s approaching, six-hundred pounds, gas and flesh.’ Nuff said.
If you would like to learn more about Ashley's fascination with cryptids and bigfeet in general read this brilliant article from Ashley
[FEATURE] FINDING GIGANTOPITHECUS BY ASHLEY STOKES
[FEATURE] FINDING GIGANTOPITHECUS BY ASHLEY STOKES
GIGANTIC BY ASHLEY STOKES
“I wasn’t sure you would get this far, so thanks a million already. You opened the mystery bag… Inside the bag, along with this letter, is a dossier that describes the whole story.”
Kevin Stubbs is a Knower. He knows life hasn’t always treated him fairly. He knows he wants to be allowed access to his son again. But most of all, he knows that the London Borough of Sutton is being stalked by a nine-foot-tall, red-eyed, hairy relict hominid – the North Surrey Gigantopithecus.
Armed with a thermal imaging camera (aka the Heat Ray) and a Trifield 100XE electromagnetic field reader (aka the Tractor Beam), Kevin and his trusty comrades in the GIT (aka the Gigantopithecus Intelligence Team) set out to investigate a new sighting on the outskirts of Sutton. If real, it will finally prove to the world that the infamous Gartree-Hogg footage was genuine, and a British Bigfoot is living in suburban London: FACT. But what he discovers undermines everything he believes in – and forces Kevin to face up to his own failures, and the very real, very scary prospect that he might have got it all terribly wrong.
Kevin Stubbs is a Knower. He knows life hasn’t always treated him fairly. He knows he wants to be allowed access to his son again. But most of all, he knows that the London Borough of Sutton is being stalked by a nine-foot-tall, red-eyed, hairy relict hominid – the North Surrey Gigantopithecus.
Armed with a thermal imaging camera (aka the Heat Ray) and a Trifield 100XE electromagnetic field reader (aka the Tractor Beam), Kevin and his trusty comrades in the GIT (aka the Gigantopithecus Intelligence Team) set out to investigate a new sighting on the outskirts of Sutton. If real, it will finally prove to the world that the infamous Gartree-Hogg footage was genuine, and a British Bigfoot is living in suburban London: FACT. But what he discovers undermines everything he believes in – and forces Kevin to face up to his own failures, and the very real, very scary prospect that he might have got it all terribly wrong.
Ashley Stokes
Ashley Stokes is originally from Carshalton in Surrey and studied first Modern History at the University of Oxford and then Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. He is author of The Syllabus of Errors (Unthank Books, 2013) and Voice (TLC Press, 2019), and editor of the Unthology series and The End: Fifteen Endings to Fifteen Paintings (Unthank Books, 2016). His recent short fiction includes Replacement Bus Service in Out of the Darkness, edited by Dan Coxon (Unsung Stories); Subtemple in Black Static; Hardrada in Tales from the Shadow Booth, Vol 4, edited by Dan Coxon; Evergreen in BFS Horizons 11; Two Drifters in Unsung Stories Online, and Black Lab in Storgy. Other stories have appeared in Bare Fiction, The Lonely Crowd, the Warwick Review and more. He lives in the East of England where he’s a ghostwriter and ghost. You can find him on Twitter and Instagram at @AshleyJStokes. Gigantic is published by Unsung Stories.
TODAY ON THE GINGER NUTS OF HORROR WEBSITE
[BOOK REVIEW]
BORN TO THE DARK BY RAMSEY CAMPBELL
THE HEART AND SOUL OF HORROR FEATURES
 | “Rocklyn’s lyrical gothic fantasy debut considers how life can persist in a world of rot, death, and destruction. . . . [They] conjure Iraxi’s precarious position in fluid, lovely prose.” |
Praise for Flowers for the Sea
“Rocklyn is angry, lyrical, honest, and heartbreaking, riding the line between fantasy and true horror.”
--Catherynne M. Valente, New York Times bestselling author
“This novella will whet the appetite of fans of classics like Ira Levin’s Rosemary’s Baby, P. D. James’ The Children ofMen, and Octavia Butler’s Bloodchild.”
--Booklist
“A lush, mesmerizing novella about survival and the hope of righteous anger. An auspicious debut baring beauty and razorfangs.”
--Paul Tremblay
“A gorgeous, powerful debut...You don't want to miss it.”
--Cassandra Khaw
--Catherynne M. Valente, New York Times bestselling author
“This novella will whet the appetite of fans of classics like Ira Levin’s Rosemary’s Baby, P. D. James’ The Children ofMen, and Octavia Butler’s Bloodchild.”
--Booklist
“A lush, mesmerizing novella about survival and the hope of righteous anger. An auspicious debut baring beauty and razorfangs.”
--Paul Tremblay
“A gorgeous, powerful debut...You don't want to miss it.”
--Cassandra Khaw
In this lush horror-fantasy an ostracized and pregnant refugee’s fate is darker than she can imagine. From Ignyte Award finalist and Bram Stoker-nominated author Zin E. Rocklyn comes a dazzling, gothic-horror debut novella that reads like Rosemary’s Baby by way of Octavia E. Butler, FLOWERS FOR THE SEA (10/19/21). OfTrinidadian descent and hailing from Jersey City, Rocklyn began writing because they did not see themselves in the horror content they loved, and they have seamlessly evolved from Fear Street fanfic by incorporating the haunting stories they were told growing up, with real fears, timely themes, and raw talent.
In FLOWERS FOR THE SEA, survivors from a flooded kingdom struggle alone on an ark. Resources are scant, and ravenous beasts circle...and their fangs are sharp. Rocklyn centers the story on Iraxi, a refugee that is ostracized, despised, and a commoner who refused a prince. Iraxi is also pregnant with a child that might be more than human, and her fate may be darker and more powerful than she can imagine.
Zin E. Rocklyn’s extraordinary debut is a story about choice in a world where all the choices have been taken away. Rocklyn has created an epic gothic-fantasy that is unafraid to challenge the legacies that came before it. Brimming with incredible prose, rage, and fear, Rocklyn has penned an alluring debut in which a Black woman does not save the world--she devours it.
 | Zin will be in conversation with Veronica G. Henry & Sistah Scifi on Tuesday October 19th for their launch day- register here! |
Zin E. Rocklyn
Zin E. Rocklyn is a contributor to Bram Stoker-nominated Nox Pareidolia, Kaiju Rising II: Reign of Monsters, Brigands: A Blackguards Anthology, and Forever Vacancy anthologies and Weird Luck Tales No. 7 zine. Their story “Summer Skin” in the Bram Stoker-nominated anthology Sycorax’s Daughters received an honorable mention for Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year, Volume Ten. Zin contributed the nonfiction essay “My Genre Makes a Monster of Me” to Uncanny Magazine’s Hugo Award-winning Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction. Their short story “Night Sun” was published on Tor.com. Zin is a 2017 VONA and 2018 Viable Paradise graduate as well as a 2021 Clarion West candidate. You can find them on Twitter @intelligentwat.
TODAY ON THE GINGER NUTS OF HORROR WEBSITE
[BOOK REVIEW]
ROCK & ROLL NIGHTMARES (TRILOGY), EDITED BY STACI LAYNE WILSON
the heart and soul of horror features
THE HORROR OF MY LIFE: CONOR METZ
15/9/2021
 | Of course, if we’re picking favorites, the one I always come back to the most is Fright Night, that is just my perfect horror film, aware of the genre tropes and using it to its advantage to combine humor with some truly unsettling moments. |
THE FIRST HORROR BOOK I REMEMBER WATCHING
Well this is tricky because the first horror book I read was a series of short stories, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. I think that book freaked out every kid in my generation with its creepy tales and even creepier art. However, if you mean an actual full length novel, it would be Dracula, thanks to the 1992 movie I was too young to see at the time.
THE FIRST HORROR FILM I REMEMBER WATCHING
This is also tricky because lots of films have horror elements without being horror. So the first monster movie I remember watching at the age of five was Predator. Which certainly had some horror elements, but was also an action movie, same with Aliens which I watched when I was nine. However, for actual horror films? That’s harder to remember because I got really into binging various horror films in junior high. I’d rent a stack of them from our local video store with my brother since he was old enough to get them. Prior to that, it’s hard to remember any pure horror films I saw, except Pet Semetary, which gave me nightmares in fourth grade.
THE GREATEST HORROR BOOK OF ALL TIME
For me that’s got to be hands down ’Salem’s Lot. It’s also my favorite Stephen King book. It’s just that perfect vampire story, not only making the threat of them feel very real, but the horror of watching this peaceful small town just wither and die over the course of the book is truly shocking.
Vampires have been my favorite movie monsters since Bram Stoker’s Dracula came out in 1992. I was obsessed with Keanu Reeves at the time thanks to the Bill & Ted movies, but there was no way my parents would let me see the film, so they instead bought me the book. That was my big introduction to vampires and it was an instant obsession that only grew deeper with my love for movies like The Lost Boys and Fright Night, and TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (still my favorite show of all time). It’s sad that vampires have gotten a bad rap in recent years due to stuff like Twilight, but like any monster they are always in danger of exhaustion due to overexposure (that’s now happened with zombies too).
I also wanted to note, the irony is not lost on me that the actor who made me want to see Bram Stoker’s Dracula was also the worst part of it and woefully miscast. However, that movie did at least introduce me to my favorite actor of all time, Gary Oldman.
THE GREATEST HORROR FILM OF ALL TIME
For me, it’s got to be either The Shining or Suspiria. Those two films are just a full audio/visual assault on the senses. Too many horror films don’t do enough with the music to really scare the audience, often just opting for loud stingers to highlight scares, but the scores to The Shining and Suspiria I find truly unsettling from the opening credits to the very end. That combined with the incredible atmosphere both present with the production design and cinematography is just second to none.
Of course, if we’re picking favorites, the one I always come back to the most is Fright Night, that is just my perfect horror film, aware of the genre tropes and using it to its advantage to combine humor with some truly unsettling moments.
THE GREATEST WRITER OF ALL TIME
If we’re talking horror again, it’s Stephen King, right? Like that’s not even debatable.
THE BEST BOOK COVER OF ALL TIME
Ooh, this is a good one. As a huge fan of old pulp novels, there are some truly wonderful covers there. My favorite artist of all time though, is hands down Frank Frazetta, and his cover to one of my favorite books, A Princess of Mars, has to be my pick for best cover of all time. If you don’t believe me, look it up. Star Wars wouldn’t have its famous poster without it.
THE BEST FILM POSTER OFF ALL TIME
Well this is going to be very subjective for me because, for one, my favorite poster artist is hands down Drew Struzan and he did an amazing poster to my favorite film of all time, Big Trouble in Little China. So I’m going to have to pick that one. However, I could also see myself going with The Thing.
THE BEST BOOK / FILM I HAVE WRITTEN
Well this is kind of a messed-up question. I don’t know if I can rate my own material. I think if you ask any writer what their best work is and they’ll probably say the last thing they’ve written. So that’s what I’m going to go with. The last book I wrote, Castillo Cove, is probably my best one—it’s certainly my most ambitious—but you’ll have to judge for yourself when it’s released.
THE WORST BOOK / FILM I HAVE WRITTEN
Wow again, c’mon give me a break here! Okay, because it was the first book I wrote, I’ll go with my unreleased novel, The Assassination on Bunraku. I thought it had a great sci-fi story to it and maybe I could turn it into a comic book someday, but wow my prose was awful at the time. I was trying to transition from screenwriting to novels and was having a hard time really diving into the heads of my characters, so a lot of it was just explaining things happening. I can only assume it was painful for my dad to read, who was thankfully the only one to look at it.
Since the question said worst book/film and I did used to be a screenwriter, I’ll also throw my first script into the race, The Road Less Traveled. It was a mess, frankly cobbled together from scenes that I liked in other movies and tried to put my own spin on with pretty awful dialogue.
THE MOST UNDERRATED FILM OF ALL TIME
Hmm, this is an interesting question and difficult to answer. A film someone might say is underappreciated is really just only appreciated by the right crowd. Cult films come to mind. Those were never meant for wide audience appeal. The people who should like them do and word usually travels fast among those circles.
Okay, you know what, I know there are fans who love this, but since it’s my third favorite film of all time, I have mention the original 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film. I think that film is pretty much perfect, and somehow manages to combine the much darker comic books with aspects of the cartoon show for a great action/comedy about family. It’s amazing how much critics crapped on it at the time and most people these days will dismiss it, but any true fans of the turtles look favorably on the film as the only turtles film that is actually a really great movie and not just some silly stuff aimed at kids.
Sadly, the film has gotten mostly shoved under the rug by the rights owners. I don’t know if this has to do with the turtles being own by Nickelodeon who are owned by Paramount and the original film was made by New Line who are owned by Warner Brothers, but yeah, whatever the case may be, the film has never really gotten any sort of proper release for the fans that celebrates what a great movie it is.
THE MOST UNDERRATED BOOK OF ALL TIME
This is probably not a good candidate, but I don’t care, I want people to know that Moonraker is the most underrated James Bond novel of all time. Here’s the reason: this book is nothing like the movie! Yes, that’s right, the silliest James Bond movie has absolutely nothing in common with the book other than the name of the villain. Moonraker however, is easily my favorite Bond book. It’s not as good as On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (that’s easily the best), but it has all the right elements to make it stand out from the other Bond stories. It’s the only book where Bond is rejected by the Bond girl for one (she’s already got a boyfriend who’s revealed at the end). It also has a unique structure keeping the first third of the book solely focused on Bond trying to best the villain, who’s cheating at baccarat, and honestly it’s a more thrilling sequence than all of Casino Royale. The rest of the book has all the usual Bond elements of a nefarious plot, a villain who isn’t what he appears, a seemingly inescapable situation, and a great car chase. If you haven’t read it and like James Bond, do yourself a favor and pick it up.
THE MOST UNDERRATED AUTHOR OF ALL TIME
Hard to answer because I’m sure authors can be forgotten over time. I think Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard are both geniuses and did more to influence the science fiction and fantasy genres than just about anyone else. Yet you don’t see them talked about too much anymore. I’d say, especially for horror fans, H.P. Lovecraft gets a lot more press (at least partially due to how racist he was). Yet Burroughs and Howard created some excellent and truly horrific moments in some of their stories that people don’t seem to talk enough about yet were clearly just as influential as stuff Lovecraft did.
THE BOOK / FILM THAT SACRED ME THE MOST
I’ve said this before it was Pet Semetary and no, I have no desire to revisit it (I did this once ten years back, but never again thanks).
THE BOOK / FILM I AM WORKING ON NEXT
I’m currently working on my fourth horror novel, tentatively titled Bleeding Hart. I don’t want to give anything about it away other than to say it’s based on my time in LA and features a fresh take on a classic movie monster.
Well this is tricky because the first horror book I read was a series of short stories, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. I think that book freaked out every kid in my generation with its creepy tales and even creepier art. However, if you mean an actual full length novel, it would be Dracula, thanks to the 1992 movie I was too young to see at the time.
THE FIRST HORROR FILM I REMEMBER WATCHING
This is also tricky because lots of films have horror elements without being horror. So the first monster movie I remember watching at the age of five was Predator. Which certainly had some horror elements, but was also an action movie, same with Aliens which I watched when I was nine. However, for actual horror films? That’s harder to remember because I got really into binging various horror films in junior high. I’d rent a stack of them from our local video store with my brother since he was old enough to get them. Prior to that, it’s hard to remember any pure horror films I saw, except Pet Semetary, which gave me nightmares in fourth grade.
THE GREATEST HORROR BOOK OF ALL TIME
For me that’s got to be hands down ’Salem’s Lot. It’s also my favorite Stephen King book. It’s just that perfect vampire story, not only making the threat of them feel very real, but the horror of watching this peaceful small town just wither and die over the course of the book is truly shocking.
Vampires have been my favorite movie monsters since Bram Stoker’s Dracula came out in 1992. I was obsessed with Keanu Reeves at the time thanks to the Bill & Ted movies, but there was no way my parents would let me see the film, so they instead bought me the book. That was my big introduction to vampires and it was an instant obsession that only grew deeper with my love for movies like The Lost Boys and Fright Night, and TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (still my favorite show of all time). It’s sad that vampires have gotten a bad rap in recent years due to stuff like Twilight, but like any monster they are always in danger of exhaustion due to overexposure (that’s now happened with zombies too).
I also wanted to note, the irony is not lost on me that the actor who made me want to see Bram Stoker’s Dracula was also the worst part of it and woefully miscast. However, that movie did at least introduce me to my favorite actor of all time, Gary Oldman.
THE GREATEST HORROR FILM OF ALL TIME
For me, it’s got to be either The Shining or Suspiria. Those two films are just a full audio/visual assault on the senses. Too many horror films don’t do enough with the music to really scare the audience, often just opting for loud stingers to highlight scares, but the scores to The Shining and Suspiria I find truly unsettling from the opening credits to the very end. That combined with the incredible atmosphere both present with the production design and cinematography is just second to none.
Of course, if we’re picking favorites, the one I always come back to the most is Fright Night, that is just my perfect horror film, aware of the genre tropes and using it to its advantage to combine humor with some truly unsettling moments.
THE GREATEST WRITER OF ALL TIME
If we’re talking horror again, it’s Stephen King, right? Like that’s not even debatable.
THE BEST BOOK COVER OF ALL TIME
Ooh, this is a good one. As a huge fan of old pulp novels, there are some truly wonderful covers there. My favorite artist of all time though, is hands down Frank Frazetta, and his cover to one of my favorite books, A Princess of Mars, has to be my pick for best cover of all time. If you don’t believe me, look it up. Star Wars wouldn’t have its famous poster without it.
THE BEST FILM POSTER OFF ALL TIME
Well this is going to be very subjective for me because, for one, my favorite poster artist is hands down Drew Struzan and he did an amazing poster to my favorite film of all time, Big Trouble in Little China. So I’m going to have to pick that one. However, I could also see myself going with The Thing.
THE BEST BOOK / FILM I HAVE WRITTEN
Well this is kind of a messed-up question. I don’t know if I can rate my own material. I think if you ask any writer what their best work is and they’ll probably say the last thing they’ve written. So that’s what I’m going to go with. The last book I wrote, Castillo Cove, is probably my best one—it’s certainly my most ambitious—but you’ll have to judge for yourself when it’s released.
THE WORST BOOK / FILM I HAVE WRITTEN
Wow again, c’mon give me a break here! Okay, because it was the first book I wrote, I’ll go with my unreleased novel, The Assassination on Bunraku. I thought it had a great sci-fi story to it and maybe I could turn it into a comic book someday, but wow my prose was awful at the time. I was trying to transition from screenwriting to novels and was having a hard time really diving into the heads of my characters, so a lot of it was just explaining things happening. I can only assume it was painful for my dad to read, who was thankfully the only one to look at it.
Since the question said worst book/film and I did used to be a screenwriter, I’ll also throw my first script into the race, The Road Less Traveled. It was a mess, frankly cobbled together from scenes that I liked in other movies and tried to put my own spin on with pretty awful dialogue.
THE MOST UNDERRATED FILM OF ALL TIME
Hmm, this is an interesting question and difficult to answer. A film someone might say is underappreciated is really just only appreciated by the right crowd. Cult films come to mind. Those were never meant for wide audience appeal. The people who should like them do and word usually travels fast among those circles.
Okay, you know what, I know there are fans who love this, but since it’s my third favorite film of all time, I have mention the original 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film. I think that film is pretty much perfect, and somehow manages to combine the much darker comic books with aspects of the cartoon show for a great action/comedy about family. It’s amazing how much critics crapped on it at the time and most people these days will dismiss it, but any true fans of the turtles look favorably on the film as the only turtles film that is actually a really great movie and not just some silly stuff aimed at kids.
Sadly, the film has gotten mostly shoved under the rug by the rights owners. I don’t know if this has to do with the turtles being own by Nickelodeon who are owned by Paramount and the original film was made by New Line who are owned by Warner Brothers, but yeah, whatever the case may be, the film has never really gotten any sort of proper release for the fans that celebrates what a great movie it is.
THE MOST UNDERRATED BOOK OF ALL TIME
This is probably not a good candidate, but I don’t care, I want people to know that Moonraker is the most underrated James Bond novel of all time. Here’s the reason: this book is nothing like the movie! Yes, that’s right, the silliest James Bond movie has absolutely nothing in common with the book other than the name of the villain. Moonraker however, is easily my favorite Bond book. It’s not as good as On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (that’s easily the best), but it has all the right elements to make it stand out from the other Bond stories. It’s the only book where Bond is rejected by the Bond girl for one (she’s already got a boyfriend who’s revealed at the end). It also has a unique structure keeping the first third of the book solely focused on Bond trying to best the villain, who’s cheating at baccarat, and honestly it’s a more thrilling sequence than all of Casino Royale. The rest of the book has all the usual Bond elements of a nefarious plot, a villain who isn’t what he appears, a seemingly inescapable situation, and a great car chase. If you haven’t read it and like James Bond, do yourself a favor and pick it up.
THE MOST UNDERRATED AUTHOR OF ALL TIME
Hard to answer because I’m sure authors can be forgotten over time. I think Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard are both geniuses and did more to influence the science fiction and fantasy genres than just about anyone else. Yet you don’t see them talked about too much anymore. I’d say, especially for horror fans, H.P. Lovecraft gets a lot more press (at least partially due to how racist he was). Yet Burroughs and Howard created some excellent and truly horrific moments in some of their stories that people don’t seem to talk enough about yet were clearly just as influential as stuff Lovecraft did.
THE BOOK / FILM THAT SACRED ME THE MOST
I’ve said this before it was Pet Semetary and no, I have no desire to revisit it (I did this once ten years back, but never again thanks).
THE BOOK / FILM I AM WORKING ON NEXT
I’m currently working on my fourth horror novel, tentatively titled Bleeding Hart. I don’t want to give anything about it away other than to say it’s based on my time in LA and features a fresh take on a classic movie monster.
The Edgewood Nightmare
by Conor Metz
Maddie Durant is trying to enjoy a snow day in December when she finds herself suddenly trapped in a world of endless, inescapable nightmares. Unfortunately for the small community of Edgewood, she's not the only one. As four other young girls go missing in the span of a few hours, the Wakefield Police have their hands full trying to find out who took them.
And things aren't looking good.
The lone detective on the police force has few clues and little hope of locating the girls, but Maddie’s brother thinks he may know where she's hidden. With the help of her best friend, the pair aren't going to let their parents or the police stop them from finding the missing girls.
Meanwhile, the girls will have to work together and summon their courage if they hope to escape a horrible fate. But without any answers to who took them and why, it's anyone's guess who will make their way out of the Edgewood nightmare.
And things aren't looking good.
The lone detective on the police force has few clues and little hope of locating the girls, but Maddie’s brother thinks he may know where she's hidden. With the help of her best friend, the pair aren't going to let their parents or the police stop them from finding the missing girls.
Meanwhile, the girls will have to work together and summon their courage if they hope to escape a horrible fate. But without any answers to who took them and why, it's anyone's guess who will make their way out of the Edgewood nightmare.
Conor Metz
BIO
Conor Metz grew up in Kent, Washington. From a young age, he was drawn to genre stories. His parents exposed him to a variety of outlandish films and as he grew older those interests led him to many novels and comics books of a similar nature. These stories have shaped him into a writer who loves composing compelling narratives that contain interesting characters and catchy dialogue.
Conor Metz grew up in Kent, Washington. From a young age, he was drawn to genre stories. His parents exposed him to a variety of outlandish films and as he grew older those interests led him to many novels and comics books of a similar nature. These stories have shaped him into a writer who loves composing compelling narratives that contain interesting characters and catchy dialogue.
WEBSITE LINKS
https://www.amazon.com/Conor-Metz/e/B08KJ18XDN?ref_=dbs_p_pbk_r00_abau_000000
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17998183.Conor_Metz
https://www.amazon.com/Conor-Metz/e/B08KJ18XDN?ref_=dbs_p_pbk_r00_abau_000000
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17998183.Conor_Metz
TODAY ON THE GINGER NUTS OF HORROR WEBSITE
[TV REVIEW]
BRAND NEW CHERRY FLAVOUR
[BOOK REVIEW]
THE QUEEN OF THE CICADAS BY V. CASTRO
the heart and soul of horror features
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THE FIRST HORROR BOOK I REMEMBER READING
The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams. It’s more of a Halloween story than a horror story, I suppose, but it was my first glint into the world of spooky and I loved it. This was a book I wanted read to me over and over again as a child and never got tired of it. As I grew older, I discovered the magic of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps and heartily enjoyed reading those.
THE FIRST HORROR FILM I REMEMBER WATCHING
Jurassic Park, though it isn’t considered horror by most, is probably my first “horror film”. It shares enough traits with an eco-horror or creature feature and is definitely responsible for my love of atmospheric horror, Michael Crichton, and monster movies. If we’re going to be sticklers for actual horror, then it was probably Tremors.
THE GREATEST HORROR BOOK OF ALL TIME
Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. I’ve always been a fan of reading about terror, of the psychological horror versus blood and guts horror. Haunted houses are also one of my favorite horror subjects and this is the mother of them all.
THE GREATEST HORROR FILM OF ALL TIME
It’s Jaws. I’ll scream that from the rooftops every time. No matter how many times I watch it, I never get tired of it. It’s to the point that if I’m looking for a comfort movie to watch while I’m making dinner or working on a non-writerly project, I will throw it on as background noise.
THE GREATEST WRITER OF ALL TIME
I have a special place in my heart for Michael Crichton. While he’s not a horror author, he was extremely prolific and the variety of his projects inspired me to want to write not just one genre but a little of bit of everything. Everything is about branding yourself as a such and such author in order to sell now, but if you can craft a best-selling techo-thriller, and then a kick-ass historical heist novel, and then write for a medical television drama, you’re just diverse and epic. He was classy and brilliant and wrote wonderful books.
THE BEST BOOK COVER OF ALL TIME
I think I love too many different book covers to be able to pick just one as my favorite. If we’re speaking about most iconic, then I’m probably going to say Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.
THE BEST FILM POSTER OFF ALL TIME
As much as I’m tempted to go straight for the obvious choices of Jurassic Park and Jaws, I’m actually going to stray and say that Blade Runner has one of the best film posters of all time. I’m a sucker for that noir/sci-fi crossover and the hand-painted art is stunning.
THE BEST BOOK / FILM I HAVE WRITTEN
The Wild Dark is my most current book, coming out October 12th. I started writing this book in 2013 and it has been the hardest and most rewarding project to work on. I put a lot of myself into this protagonist and into the book, pieces of me that I’ve been afraid to share with other people. I’ve always been kind of a loner and been pretty self-sufficient which plays into this book about an ex-cop who is grappling with the death of her partner and dissolution of her job and life in the midst of an apocalypse.
THE WORST BOOK / FILM I HAVE WRITTEN
My third book of The Monstrum Chronicles series, Memento Mori, was one that I worked so hard on. I love so many parts of that book and I had this clever/dumb idea that it could serve as the third book in the series as well as the prequel to the first book. That idea didn’t work out too well. I also released it too late after the first two books came out and no one read it. I tried to have this impromptu release party for it that no one came to and I remembered being so let down with myself. It was the first time in my career where I felt like I’d wasted time on something I loved and it nearly made me want to stop writing.
THE MOST UNDERRATED FILM OF ALL TIME
The Village. Yes, all of you probably know the double twist ending and how disappointed you were by the fact that it wasn’t scary enough. This movie was gorgeous. Its flaw was in how it was marketed. It’s a love story with a creepy backdrop; not a horror story. The other problem was that people wanted it to be the same as Shymalan’s other films and when it wasn’t, it let audiences down. Not me. Give me that spooky monster backdrop romance all day long.
THE MOST UNDERRATED BOOK OF ALL TIME
I think anyone who hasn’t read Dark Blood Comes From The Feet by Emma J. Gibbon needs to get that in their hands right now and do it. That is some damn fine New England horror.
THE MOST UNDERRATED AUTHOR OF ALL TIME
Where to begin, haha! Seriously, the horror community is filled with lots of wonderful talent, a lot of whom haven’t seen their fare share of reviews. All I can say is give someone that you’ve never heard of a chance. Odds are you’ll be pleasantly surprised. I am in various communities with extremely talented writers who have books that will have you cowering in the dark and begging for more. Do yourself a favor and try someone new.
THE BOOK / FILM THAT SACRED ME THE MOST
I will not watch The Ring ever again. I didn’t really have a choice of whether I wanted to watch it or not and it seriously didn’t sit well with me. I’m not a fan of scary children in horror as a theme. While reading Stephen Graham Jones’ The Only Good Indians last year, I had to put the book down a couple times and go seek out warmth and sunshine. Tremendous story but so scary!
THE BOOK / FILM I AM WORKING ON NEXT
I am currently at work on the sequel for The Wild Dark as well as my sequel to my novella, The Collection. It’s very Downton Abbey meets Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves.
The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams. It’s more of a Halloween story than a horror story, I suppose, but it was my first glint into the world of spooky and I loved it. This was a book I wanted read to me over and over again as a child and never got tired of it. As I grew older, I discovered the magic of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps and heartily enjoyed reading those.
THE FIRST HORROR FILM I REMEMBER WATCHING
Jurassic Park, though it isn’t considered horror by most, is probably my first “horror film”. It shares enough traits with an eco-horror or creature feature and is definitely responsible for my love of atmospheric horror, Michael Crichton, and monster movies. If we’re going to be sticklers for actual horror, then it was probably Tremors.
THE GREATEST HORROR BOOK OF ALL TIME
Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. I’ve always been a fan of reading about terror, of the psychological horror versus blood and guts horror. Haunted houses are also one of my favorite horror subjects and this is the mother of them all.
THE GREATEST HORROR FILM OF ALL TIME
It’s Jaws. I’ll scream that from the rooftops every time. No matter how many times I watch it, I never get tired of it. It’s to the point that if I’m looking for a comfort movie to watch while I’m making dinner or working on a non-writerly project, I will throw it on as background noise.
THE GREATEST WRITER OF ALL TIME
I have a special place in my heart for Michael Crichton. While he’s not a horror author, he was extremely prolific and the variety of his projects inspired me to want to write not just one genre but a little of bit of everything. Everything is about branding yourself as a such and such author in order to sell now, but if you can craft a best-selling techo-thriller, and then a kick-ass historical heist novel, and then write for a medical television drama, you’re just diverse and epic. He was classy and brilliant and wrote wonderful books.
THE BEST BOOK COVER OF ALL TIME
I think I love too many different book covers to be able to pick just one as my favorite. If we’re speaking about most iconic, then I’m probably going to say Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.
THE BEST FILM POSTER OFF ALL TIME
As much as I’m tempted to go straight for the obvious choices of Jurassic Park and Jaws, I’m actually going to stray and say that Blade Runner has one of the best film posters of all time. I’m a sucker for that noir/sci-fi crossover and the hand-painted art is stunning.
THE BEST BOOK / FILM I HAVE WRITTEN
The Wild Dark is my most current book, coming out October 12th. I started writing this book in 2013 and it has been the hardest and most rewarding project to work on. I put a lot of myself into this protagonist and into the book, pieces of me that I’ve been afraid to share with other people. I’ve always been kind of a loner and been pretty self-sufficient which plays into this book about an ex-cop who is grappling with the death of her partner and dissolution of her job and life in the midst of an apocalypse.
THE WORST BOOK / FILM I HAVE WRITTEN
My third book of The Monstrum Chronicles series, Memento Mori, was one that I worked so hard on. I love so many parts of that book and I had this clever/dumb idea that it could serve as the third book in the series as well as the prequel to the first book. That idea didn’t work out too well. I also released it too late after the first two books came out and no one read it. I tried to have this impromptu release party for it that no one came to and I remembered being so let down with myself. It was the first time in my career where I felt like I’d wasted time on something I loved and it nearly made me want to stop writing.
THE MOST UNDERRATED FILM OF ALL TIME
The Village. Yes, all of you probably know the double twist ending and how disappointed you were by the fact that it wasn’t scary enough. This movie was gorgeous. Its flaw was in how it was marketed. It’s a love story with a creepy backdrop; not a horror story. The other problem was that people wanted it to be the same as Shymalan’s other films and when it wasn’t, it let audiences down. Not me. Give me that spooky monster backdrop romance all day long.
THE MOST UNDERRATED BOOK OF ALL TIME
I think anyone who hasn’t read Dark Blood Comes From The Feet by Emma J. Gibbon needs to get that in their hands right now and do it. That is some damn fine New England horror.
THE MOST UNDERRATED AUTHOR OF ALL TIME
Where to begin, haha! Seriously, the horror community is filled with lots of wonderful talent, a lot of whom haven’t seen their fare share of reviews. All I can say is give someone that you’ve never heard of a chance. Odds are you’ll be pleasantly surprised. I am in various communities with extremely talented writers who have books that will have you cowering in the dark and begging for more. Do yourself a favor and try someone new.
THE BOOK / FILM THAT SACRED ME THE MOST
I will not watch The Ring ever again. I didn’t really have a choice of whether I wanted to watch it or not and it seriously didn’t sit well with me. I’m not a fan of scary children in horror as a theme. While reading Stephen Graham Jones’ The Only Good Indians last year, I had to put the book down a couple times and go seek out warmth and sunshine. Tremendous story but so scary!
THE BOOK / FILM I AM WORKING ON NEXT
I am currently at work on the sequel for The Wild Dark as well as my sequel to my novella, The Collection. It’s very Downton Abbey meets Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves.
the wild dark by KATHERINE SILVA
Coming OCTOBER 12th, 2021
Ghosts. Soul-eating wolves. World-consuming woods. A friendship that defies death.
Elizabeth 'Liz' Raleigh has lost everything: her job as a police detective, her partner, her fiancé, and her peace of mind. After a month of solitude at a cabin in the woods, she finally feels as though she's ready to move on.
But in one terrifying night, everything changes. Liz's partner, Brody, appears in the form of a ghost. He's one of millions that have returned to haunt their loved ones. Brody can't remember how he died and Liz is determined to keep the secret of it buried, for it means dredging up crushing memories. Along with him comes an unearthly forest purgatory that swallows up every sign of human civilization across the world. The woods are fraught with disturbing architecture and monstrous wolves hungry for human souls. Brody says he escaped from them and that the wolves are trying to drag him and others ghosts back.
As winter closes in and chaos erupts across New England, Liz fights desolation, resurfacing guilt, and absolute terror as she tries to survive one of the most brutal winters she's ever seen.
Ghosts. Soul-eating wolves. World-consuming woods. A friendship that defies death.
Elizabeth 'Liz' Raleigh has lost everything: her job as a police detective, her partner, her fiancé, and her peace of mind. After a month of solitude at a cabin in the woods, she finally feels as though she's ready to move on.
But in one terrifying night, everything changes. Liz's partner, Brody, appears in the form of a ghost. He's one of millions that have returned to haunt their loved ones. Brody can't remember how he died and Liz is determined to keep the secret of it buried, for it means dredging up crushing memories. Along with him comes an unearthly forest purgatory that swallows up every sign of human civilization across the world. The woods are fraught with disturbing architecture and monstrous wolves hungry for human souls. Brody says he escaped from them and that the wolves are trying to drag him and others ghosts back.
As winter closes in and chaos erupts across New England, Liz fights desolation, resurfacing guilt, and absolute terror as she tries to survive one of the most brutal winters she's ever seen.
Katherine Silva
Katherine Silva is a Maine author of dark fiction, a connoisseur of coffee, and victim of cat shenanigans. She is a two-time Maine Literary Award finalist for speculative fiction and a member of the Horror Writers of Maine, Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, and New England Horror Writers Association. Her latest book, The Wild Dark, is due out October 12th.
Katherine Silva is a Maine author of dark fiction, a connoisseur of coffee, and victim of cat shenanigans. She is a two-time Maine Literary Award finalist for speculative fiction and a member of the Horror Writers of Maine, Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, and New England Horror Writers Association. Her latest book, The Wild Dark, is due out October 12th.
WEBSITE LINKS
Website: http://www.katherinesilvaauthor.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katherinesilva.author
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katherine.silva.author/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KatherineSilva_
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@katherinesilvaauthor?lang=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katherinesilva.author
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katherine.silva.author/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KatherineSilva_
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@katherinesilvaauthor?lang=en
TODAY ON THE GINGER NUTS OF HORROR WEBSITE
[INTERVIEW]
ALARIC CABILINg SHOWS THE BEST OF THE WORLD
the heart and soul of horror features
![[FEATURE] ANTHONY STEVEN'S CHILDHOOD FEARS](../../uploads/3/4/5/1/34519054/feature-anthony-steven-s-childhood-fears_orig.png) |
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CHILDHOOD FEARS
Being born in and growing up for part of my childhood in an old, gloomy Victorian house probably fuelled my early fears. There was a spooky attic; dark stairs, and mice scuttling around in the walls from time to time. No wonder I was frightened.
The first thing that I remember being actively scared of when I was a child was The Cybermen in Doctor Who. There was something eerie about the fact that they looked humanoid but were devoid of any humanity whatsoever, and I think that this disturbed me on some subconscious level.
There was also a couple of series on TV that creeped me out. Timeslip was one, and there was another series about a girl whose drawings manifested in dreams. The name of this
programme escapes me, now, but I remember that the girl drew a house surrounded by large rocks with eyes; and when this vision came true in a live-action nightmare, the rocks blinked one cyclopean eye open, much to my horror. I’m pretty sure that I yelped with fear and hid behind the sofa at that point.
I’ve talked about watching Hammer House of Horror movies, and of these, The Pit and The Pendulum and The Masque of The Red Death stand out as particularly terrifying for a young child. They were like fever-dreams in which everything was slightly off-kilter and evil lurked around every corner, waiting to pounce. They both gave me bad dreams.
Although TV and all the things exhibited on it were fascinating to me, going to the cinema, usually with my father and brothers, was always something to look forward to. I was twelve when Jaws came out, and this is still one of my favourite monster movies of all time. But the movie that gave me the biggest chill, and it does even to this day, came a few years earlier when dad took me to see a double feature of Planet of the Apes and Return to The Planet of the Apes.
At the end of the original, Charlton Heston rides off into the sunset with a mute female companion. Up to this point, he thinks that he’s on another planet, but when he finds the Statue of Liberty buried in the sand, he realises that he’s been home all along.
Watching this scene as a child made my heart leap from my chest into my throat as the camera panned through Lady Liberty’s crown and then her torch. This was huge and shocking to me on the big screen. I think now that it was the implication that all we know of our planet and civilization is fleeting, along with our mortality; that neither I or anything else, even iconic buildings and cities will last forever. At the time, though, I could not have explained these feelings; I just knew that the sight of that symbol of humanity buried and forgotten absolutely shook me to the core. It still does. Maybe that’s why I write horror-fiction. Maybe.
Being born in and growing up for part of my childhood in an old, gloomy Victorian house probably fuelled my early fears. There was a spooky attic; dark stairs, and mice scuttling around in the walls from time to time. No wonder I was frightened.
The first thing that I remember being actively scared of when I was a child was The Cybermen in Doctor Who. There was something eerie about the fact that they looked humanoid but were devoid of any humanity whatsoever, and I think that this disturbed me on some subconscious level.
There was also a couple of series on TV that creeped me out. Timeslip was one, and there was another series about a girl whose drawings manifested in dreams. The name of this
programme escapes me, now, but I remember that the girl drew a house surrounded by large rocks with eyes; and when this vision came true in a live-action nightmare, the rocks blinked one cyclopean eye open, much to my horror. I’m pretty sure that I yelped with fear and hid behind the sofa at that point.
I’ve talked about watching Hammer House of Horror movies, and of these, The Pit and The Pendulum and The Masque of The Red Death stand out as particularly terrifying for a young child. They were like fever-dreams in which everything was slightly off-kilter and evil lurked around every corner, waiting to pounce. They both gave me bad dreams.
Although TV and all the things exhibited on it were fascinating to me, going to the cinema, usually with my father and brothers, was always something to look forward to. I was twelve when Jaws came out, and this is still one of my favourite monster movies of all time. But the movie that gave me the biggest chill, and it does even to this day, came a few years earlier when dad took me to see a double feature of Planet of the Apes and Return to The Planet of the Apes.
At the end of the original, Charlton Heston rides off into the sunset with a mute female companion. Up to this point, he thinks that he’s on another planet, but when he finds the Statue of Liberty buried in the sand, he realises that he’s been home all along.
Watching this scene as a child made my heart leap from my chest into my throat as the camera panned through Lady Liberty’s crown and then her torch. This was huge and shocking to me on the big screen. I think now that it was the implication that all we know of our planet and civilization is fleeting, along with our mortality; that neither I or anything else, even iconic buildings and cities will last forever. At the time, though, I could not have explained these feelings; I just knew that the sight of that symbol of humanity buried and forgotten absolutely shook me to the core. It still does. Maybe that’s why I write horror-fiction. Maybe.
ANTHONY STEVEN
I mainly write horror and paranormal thrillers although I am probably the most squeamish of people when it comes to watching horror movies and normally watch the scary parts through my fingers. Why I write in this genre of fiction is therefore quite ironic, but I’ve always been attracted to horror and thrillers in all their forms, whether on print or large and small screen. I have early memories of secretly watching Appointment with Fear with my older brother on an old black-and-white portable TV on Monday night’s when we should have been asleep. The image of Christopher Lee crashing through French windows in the first Hammer Horror Dracula movie, with blood on his fangs chills me to this day!
Predictably, I am a huge fan of Stephen King, but also love writers such as Dean Koontz, Joe Hill, CJ Tudor and James Herbert. When I was a kid, I was fascinated and enthralled by Robert E Howard’s sword-and-sorcery tales of Conan the Barbarian and several other creations, and then by Michael Moorcock’s Eternal Champion series. These stories really fuelled my imagination and made me want to write my own stuff. When my older brother introduced me to Stephen King, I was soon lost in even darker worlds, and I haven’t wanted to come out of them ever since. My books are, therefore, quite disturbing, gory at times, but I try to also litter them with characters who, while flawed, display the finer human qualities such as bravery, loyalty, and above all love of other people above themselves. I hope that you think that I have succeeded in this.
In my normal life I work for a charity that supports blind and partially sighted people and I am also a qualified psychotherapist. This is all after spending twenty-five years in the private sector, where I wasn’t just unfulfilled, but also monumentally bored. Working with people directly to help them solve their own problems was definitely a better fit for me.
I live in Cheshire, England, with my wonderfully patient wife and our small dog, Bailey, who loves nothing better than cuddles, food, and waiting until I’m relaxed of an evening before she demands some attention.
Predictably, I am a huge fan of Stephen King, but also love writers such as Dean Koontz, Joe Hill, CJ Tudor and James Herbert. When I was a kid, I was fascinated and enthralled by Robert E Howard’s sword-and-sorcery tales of Conan the Barbarian and several other creations, and then by Michael Moorcock’s Eternal Champion series. These stories really fuelled my imagination and made me want to write my own stuff. When my older brother introduced me to Stephen King, I was soon lost in even darker worlds, and I haven’t wanted to come out of them ever since. My books are, therefore, quite disturbing, gory at times, but I try to also litter them with characters who, while flawed, display the finer human qualities such as bravery, loyalty, and above all love of other people above themselves. I hope that you think that I have succeeded in this.
In my normal life I work for a charity that supports blind and partially sighted people and I am also a qualified psychotherapist. This is all after spending twenty-five years in the private sector, where I wasn’t just unfulfilled, but also monumentally bored. Working with people directly to help them solve their own problems was definitely a better fit for me.
I live in Cheshire, England, with my wonderfully patient wife and our small dog, Bailey, who loves nothing better than cuddles, food, and waiting until I’m relaxed of an evening before she demands some attention.
Birth-Rite
by Anthony Steven
Accept The Power or The World Will Burn
Nine-year-old David Ryan is in mortal danger He has a deadly secret that is unknown even to himself. But there is someone that does know: a relentless killer born of hatred, who draws upon dark powers to destroy God’s chosen ones.
As David grows into a troubled teenager, he has to confront the truth about himself to have any hope of stopping the malignant spread of evil that is engulfing his small town.
He must accept his birth-rite, or the whole world will burn.
Nine-year-old David Ryan is in mortal danger He has a deadly secret that is unknown even to himself. But there is someone that does know: a relentless killer born of hatred, who draws upon dark powers to destroy God’s chosen ones.
As David grows into a troubled teenager, he has to confront the truth about himself to have any hope of stopping the malignant spread of evil that is engulfing his small town.
He must accept his birth-rite, or the whole world will burn.
TODAY ON THE GINGER NUTS OF HORROR WEBSITE
[AUTHOR INTERVIEW] COY HALL OPENS UP THE GRIMOIRE
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