Monthly Archives

July 2014

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Mary Hades: The Darkness Comes, and I Greet it.

My Daylight Monsters (Mary Hades, #0.5) started out as a standalone short, but after reaching the top of the YA horror amazon list, Sarah Dalton expanded her plans for the Gothic novella, birthing the Mary Hades series! While a lot of people will undoubtedly compare My Daylight Monsters to Girl, Interrupted, which is fair, the tone of the story reminded me of Donnie Darko. In fact, the day after reading it, I had to rewatch that movie (ahhh, I love it so!). I told Sarah Dalton on twitter, and she said that while she hadn't thought of the movie while writing it,[...]

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Haunted Places in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania, the state in which I call home, is known for its fall foliage and historic sites. Little do you know that it's also home to numerous haunted places. Over the next few months, I'm going to take you on a haunted tour of Pennsylvania. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Pennhurst State School and Hospital Originally knows as the Eastern Pennsylvania Institution for the Feeble Minded and Epileptic, Pennhurst was originally built to segregate and sterilize those with disabilities. Located in Spring City Pennsylvania, the doors first opened in 1908 to its first[...]

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Dream Casting: Welcome to the Dark House by Laurie Faria Stolarz

I posted in the beginning of July about a book I was very excited to read. I went to ALA in Las Vegas and came home with Welcome to the Dark House by Laurie Faria Stolarz tucked underneath my arm. I have read this author several times before and she never disappoints. In case you forgot, here is what Welcome to the Dark House is all about. What’s your worst nightmare? For Ivy Jensen, it’s the eyes of a killer that haunt her nights. For Parker Bradley, it’s bloodthirsty sea serpents that slither in his dreams. And for seven essay contestants, it’s their w[...]

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Horror Ripped From the Headlines

We are constantly bombarded by horror in the news, whether it be about the latest movie or war. It's ever present in the headlines and on social media. Trust me, you don't have to go far to read something scary. Last week in fact, a local coroner had mechanical difficulties with the back door of his vehicle. And dead body strapped to a gurney fell out onto a busy street. You heard me. Rolled right out into oncoming traffic! Can you imagine being the car behind him on the road? Talk about real life scariness! I'd be freaking about possession and locking my car doo[...]

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Dark Heroes: What Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children Teaches Us About Good and Evil

When Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children came out, most of the reviews focused on the clever and interesting use of the vintage photographs. Multiple imitation books have emerged since, with varying success, and a visit to Amazon’s “recommended for you” page gives me several titles based on my love of the developing Peregrine series. However, as much as I like the vintage photos, they are not what propels my continuing interest in Ransom Riggs’ stories. When I was thirteen, I discovered Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising series, and fell in lov[...]

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Real Life Creepy Places: Creepy Montreal (don’t laugh)

Hello all! In the last few weeks, I’ve been on an Eastern European kick. Now it’s time for some creepiness much closer to home—at least my home. So I present to you not one, not two… but three real life creepy places right here in Montreal. Montreal is one of the first European settlements in North America. For two thousand years prior, the territory was inhabited by Algonquin, Huron and Iroquois tribes; in 1535, a French guy named Jacques Cartier arrived on the scene, named the St-Lawrence River, founded what would later be Quebec City, and then moved d[...]

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The Way the World Ends

Hollowland - the first book in the young adult dystopian series The Hollows... "This is the way the world ends - not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door." Nineteen-year-old Remy King is on a mission to get across the wasteland left of America, and nothing will stand in her way - not violent marauders, a spoiled rock star, or an army of flesh-eating zombies. The first line in this book is so awesome, that they had to put it right there in the book description. “This is the way the world ends; not with a bang or a whimper, but[...]

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Oh the Things You Can Google

We've all Googled things for our WIPs that could cause the police to investigate us. Right? I mean, currently writing a novel about a serial killer has definitely had me searching some questionable content. Like--which vein makes a person bleed out faster? Yeah, that'd get me locked up for sure. But recently, I searched for something out of pure curiosity. My friend, who knows I want heads for my office--don't ask. It's a thing. Found these for me at her neighbor's yard sale.   I know. Kinda freaky but I can't wait to clean them up. Like I did to this on[...]

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The Horror Movie Survival Guide for the Discerning Final Girl

While I hope that common sense will prevail should you find yourself in a particularly harrowing situation this summer, I think we might want to take two seconds to revisit The Rules. I offer this happy little reminder in the event that you should find yourself in a derelict cabin somewhere for a "fun" weekend, getting irregular phone calls from inside your house while babysitting, or your car dies on some remote part of the interstate and your only recourse is to make a phone call from that creepy gas station around the bend. The "Final Girl" is a horror movie t[...]

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Places I Want to Visit: Haunted Forests of Romania and Japan

I like places. I like nature. I like places of nature. Forests can be pretty dope. They can also be pretty creepy. Forests don't necessarily even have to be legit haunted to creep me out. I attribute part of this to my horrible sense of direction. I can get turned around and be completely lost in ten seconds. Even when I'm positive I'm going in the right direction, there's a 90% chance I'm actually walking at a brisk pace in the wrong and opposite direction. I could totally see myself getting lost and starving in some woods. "We found her yesterday. Her stomach[...]