I love short stories. Writing them and reading them. During the busy holiday months, short stories are perfect. I love bite sized pieces of beautifully creepy prose or soul jarring scares that fit into those small stolen moments of reading. A few of my favorites, should you be looking for short pieces of horror heaven during the holidays: Beautiful Sorrows by Mercedes M. Yardley Really. If you haven't read her, do it now. The Moon Will Look Strange by Lynda E. Rucker In the Tall Grass by Stephen King and Joe Hill Gothic! Ten Original Tales edited by Deborah[...]
Category
Art
2 Now in theaters (and as of today also on DirecTV VOD), The Babadook is one scary looking film. The plot: A widow and her troubled son are terrorized by a creature summoned from a children's book titled Mister Babadook. http://youtu.be/k5WQZzDRVtw While the film looks very promising (I haven't yet seen it), the thing I am most excited about is... ...wait for it... YOU CAN ORDER AN ACTUAL POP-UP BOOK OF MISTER BABADOOK. EXACTLY LIKE THE ONE FROM THE FRICKIN MOVIE. IN OTHER WORDS, YOU CAN SUMMON YOUR OWN MONSTER. Or just own a really cool book. I love[...]
Hey there, boos and ghouls! Halloween is a little more than a week away, and you know what that means. Yep, your local grocery store will soon be out of Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins. It's tragic, I know. But at least we here at The Midnight Society have another fun Halloween contest to help take your mind off of it! Here are the rules: * Carve a really cool jack-o-lantern * Like The Midnight Society Facebook page * Post a picture of your really cool jack-o-lantern to our Facebook. (If you don't have Facebook, you can still participate. Just comment here o[...]
My Dearest Ghouls and Ghosts, Here lies an invitation to the most frightening contest of all. We're in search of the scary words of your inner Poe. If you think you can scare us to death, this contest is for you. Here are the details: 1. Send your poems to: kissedbyink@gmail.com 2. In the subject line, please type your poem's title and your name. 3. Copy and past your poem directly into the email. ABSOLUTELY NO ATTACHMENTS! 4. Only open to US residents who are at least 18 years-old. 5. All entries due by October 26th at midnight (EST). 6. The Mid[...]
The Reclaim Horror series will begin in November after The Midnight Society's Halloween festivities next month. Horror has always received stigma, but never has that been more contradictory than it is today. Romance has domesticated horror creatures like vampires and zombies. Genre labels like dark fantasy and supernatural thriller avoid the visceral, negative reaction associated with horror. People equate horror with gore when in reality horror is much more than that. All this gentling makes no sense in a nation that loves horror. The most-watched TV shows last[...]
With the philosophy in mind that anything can be scary, The Midnight Society brings you Top Scare, a new flash fiction contest. The Contest Post to the comments section below a piece of flash fiction (700 words or fewer) about the seemingly benign noun of the month. This month's benign noun is a mailbox. Here are some images that could get you thinking, but you are not required to use them: The Prize On Sunday, October 5, the Top Scare of all the entries will be announced. The winner gets a badge specially designed for that month. What will it l[...]
Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society is a creepy short trailer called Hominid. Created from photo composites by Brian Andrews, we see human skeleton frogs, bugs, and spiders battle it out in the natural world. From Brian Andrew's artist statement: Frequently, images of animals lurk within my artwork. These animals live in an ontological quagmire. When we look at them we can see both the unknown of the wild and the potential for humanity. In the current discourses of art, the animal is seen as a representation - a symbol of our cultural projectio[...]
When I was first dreaming up The Midnight Society, I knew that I needed to find someone to make an incredible logo. And when members started coming aboard I was hoping that one of them might be able to point me towards a designer that could adequately represent our project. After all, it's not easy to capture the mood and essence of a website or a group of people in one design. But Midnight Society member Kira Butler didn't just refer me. She took it upon herself to create this incredible new logo. And I'm sure you'll agree with me that her work is beyond fantast[...]
You played with dolls as a child, right? Dolls can be fun... or they can be the ultimate fear factor. You know what I mean. Hard plastic eyes that you could swear are staring at you. So you move to a different place in the room BUT THE EYES FOLLOW. Or, the doll was sitting on the couch. You are SURE it was sitting on the couch but then, why is it on the floor? I admit, I had a thing about Care Bears when I was young. I swear mine were possessed or something. They moved, they STARED. They were scurry. But now that I'm all grown up, I'm past all that. Yep. Dolls ar[...]
Special effects makeup wasn't something I necessarily thought I'd be into. I mean, it sounds neat enough, but would I really want to watch a show with people putting on makeup? The answer is apparently yes, yes I would. And not only so I enjoy watching the show, but it continuously inspires me as a writer to work harder and push myself further. And as a lover of the dark and twisty art of the world? This definitely tickles my fancy. The show is called Face Off, and it airs on Syfy (I'll never get used to writing Syfy, by the way. I pronounce it siff-eee, and say[...]