Monthly Archives

June 2014

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Abandoned Shopping Malls

Most of the abandoned building photos I see are of schools or hospitals--buildings that are a few decades old. Seph Lawless recently put together a photography book called Black Friday featuring two abandoned Ohio malls. You can see photos in the video below. With zombies readily being compared to Black Friday shoppers, and the cartoons every Thanksgiving morning filled with the various horrors of consumerism, shopping malls do seem like the future landscape for horror novels. Maybe someday, instead of the abandoned asylum, the abandoned mall will become the[...]

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Writing Horror- A Pep Talk

I am a huge Stephen King fan. I enjoy reading his stories and watching his words come to life on the big screen. But the real reason I have so much regard for Mr. King is because of his ability to take himself and writing so seriously. A few years ago I read his book on the craft of writing aptly named, On Writing. If you haven't read this yet, I implore you to get a copy now. Seriously. I've recently come back to read some advice he gives--because honestly, sometimes writers need to give themselves a good ol' pep talk. Reminding yourself once and a while abo[...]

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Travelling Weird: The Bone Church of Prague

Some people keep their skeletons in their closets. Other people turn them into decorative art? A few days back I bit the bullet and purchased my plane ticket to Europe. It'll be my third trip across the pond, and every time I go, I venture a little farther. It's been previously stated that I'm big into visiting cemeteries amidst the art museums and various nooks and side streets, but I'll take on the occasional cathedral if it's there. (Notre Dame was in my way in Paris, really. When you're standing under it's massive shadow and don't have anything better to do -[...]

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Where NOT to Stay

Summertime is a great time for travel! The weather is warm, maybe you've got kids out of school... pack your bags, hit the road, it's time to take a trip! The world is a big place. So many places to see. May I suggest you go pretty much anywhere EXCEPT HERE: The Clown Motel. No, seriously, there is a clown motel. It's a motel, in the desert, with a clown theme, and it's haunted by clowns.   Also, it's built next to an old cemetery which is the final resting place of hundreds of  miners who died from the plague. I know... are you thinking what I'm t[...]

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The Poison Eaters

Holly Black is definitely an author I could see sitting around a campfire at midnight, telling a story that would give me the creeps. For a good look at some of the stories she might tell, I would recommend checking out The Poison Eaters, a short volume with a dozen short stories by Holly Black. Among the stories in this book is The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, which you'll likely recognize as her awesome popular book. This short story is something not to miss, especially if you're a fan of vampires that are unique and not of the friendly variety. Our main charact[...]

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Horror Movie Remakes

I was flipping through my TV channels the other night and came upon a remake of Psycho. It got me thinking...there have been many remakes of famous horror movies. All of which are really well done; however, I still like the original movies better. Vince Vaughn as Norman Bates? He plays a total creeper, but I still think the original version is scarier. A remake of Carrie? A Stephen King classic? I know many people have truly enjoyed this version, but I can't see Carrie as anyone other than Sissy Spacek! My teen loves horror flicks, so I've chaperoned many[...]

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It’s dangerous to go alone, take this.

There's a lot of things out there that will kill you, but sitting seems to be creeping up the ladder. Weird, right? I work for a tech company where a lot of people have jumped on the standing desk bandwagon to reduce the number of hours they remain planted on their butts and increasing their chances of chronic disease, reduced life expectancy, kidney disease, crappy mental health, obesity, and just plain death. Death. Death. Death. (Check out this article from Popular Science if you're curious.) I don't know about you, but I sit at work when I'm not running betwe[...]

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Real Life Creepy Places: a Pagan Wheel of Fortune in a Moscow Park

Today's real life creepy place isn't so much creepy as mystical, but it holds a very special significance to me: I grew up in that neighborhood and went for daily walks in this park when I was a child. The park is one of the oldest in Moscow, in a neighborhood called Sokolniki ("Falconers"). Moscow is an old place with a rich history, and Sokolniki is no exception. The park got its name from none other than Ivan the Terrible (1530-1584), who was fond of hunting with falcons. A well-known Russian folk tale about a famous falconer is also said to be inspired by[...]

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Edgar Allan Poe’s Morella and the Murders in the Rue Morgue

If you're a fan of horror comics, or of Edgar Allan Poe, today this one shot comic from Richard Corben hits the stands. It's a retelling of the two short stories Morella and The Murders in the Rue Morgue--stories of killer apes, and the return of the dead.  You can pick it up at your local comic shop, or digitally on Comixology, Dark Horse, or Amazon. If you prefer collections, you can find these stories later this year reprinted in a hardbound collection, which will include Corben's previous Edgar Allan Poe retellings, which will be titled Edgar Allan Poe's S[...]