The Blind Dead Collection – review

The Blind Dead Collection – movie review/s

            For us horror nerds there’s something wonderful about the undiscovered country of foreign and underground horror.  It’s the fact that this stuff isn’t in the mainstream that makes it so cool and desirable.  Even the bad stuff is lauded because it is different and unknown.  Such is the case for director Amanda De Ossorio’s The Blind Dead films, which are so different than the zombie films we’re used to that they warrant a look for that alone, but is curiosity all they can offer?

Yes and no.

The Blind Dead films are four movies that feature the revived corpses of some Satanic Templar knights as they return for blood and to give further sacrifices to their dark gods. The films, while each is set in a different location, the Templars and their story remains the same – that they were a sect of knights that had been involved in the Crusades but which had fallen from the divine path and had begun worshipping Satan and other evil gods in order to attain eternal life.  In order to do this they gave ritual sacrifices and drank the blood of their victims.  Eventually the surrounding area has enough of the murder and evil and attacks the Templars and kills them all and burns their eyes out.  Unfortunately the knights return, hundreds of years later, to enact vengeance, carry out rituals, and just generally get up to mischief, much to the chagrin of the locals.

I tell you what, I have seen a lot, and I mean a LOT of zombie and living dead horror films and none of the creatures are as scary or as haunting as the Blind Dead.  Sure, there is some cheese involved because they have terribly face skeletal hands but otherwise these are great costumes and some very good acting that adds a very palpable sense of dread to the series.  The shame is that since these are the blind dead they can only catch you if they hear you but that is never played up effectively.  There is a dream quality to the films, a sense of these being folk tales that makes them so effective.  There is a decided lack of logic in the films that gets just as aggravating as the misogyny and attempted rape of the first three films (seriously, De Ossorio doesn’t seem to think much of the men of his country, for real), but if you can let that go and get wrapped up in the imagery, in the dread, the series is pretty effective.  I really, really love that in the four films there is an arc, an ebb and flow of things where sometimes the protagonists get away and sometimes they don’t.  Unlike a series like Saw, this series actually allows some to survive the wrath of the villains, something I appreciated.

Ah, but the films.

Tombs of the Blind Dead

Some silly tourists lose a pouty friend as she jumps off a train and wanders off to the resting place of the Templars.  Unfortunately for her they are in a giving mood so they take her life and give it to their gods.  Her friends ramble off to look for her with some local creeps in tow who know the area and end up tussling with each other and the dead and it’s not pretty.

Fun way to kick of the series with a little too much misogyny for my tastes (as if I have ANY taste for it) but it’s a creepy movie that, while full of logical manholes, is bleak and effective.

7

Return of the Evil Dead

The boys are back and this time to re-pay and old debt as they return to torment the village that put them to death on the anniversary of that day.  Mix in a LOT of ‘70s tough guys and enough mustaches to weave a rug and you’ve got a pretty good start to the fun.  Things drag a bit but man alive does it get creepy towards the end.  One of the best entries in the series and a solid effort with the highest body count by far.

7.5

The Ghost Galleon

The least of the four films and with fair reason.  This entry is set mostly at ‘sea’ and on a ghost ship that is notoriously known as a cheesy miniature in a small pool with lots of smoke.  Thankfully there are only a handful of shots of the galleon itself from afar but the shots that you see leave a bad, bad taste in your mouth.  Corny story of models in a publicity stunt getting caught up in the clutches of the sailing dead and when their rescuers arrive things don’t get much better.  Some very nice mood established here and some pretty good logic – hey, they’re in coffins, let’s throw the coffins over…BRILLIANT! – but the corniness and some weird story logic at the end really kick this one in the junk.  Fun but easily the cheesiest of the bunch.

6.5

Night of the Seagulls

Despite having the worst title of the series this is easily the best of the bunch and is a darn good movie.  Good lead characters, another creepy setting, ancient rituals, a weird town, and them lovable baddies.  Oh, and no rape AND you still get a weird man-child character, which is a staple to the series. WIN!  A very solid way to end the series and definitely the alpha-dog of the films.  And it makes me happy to see he ended the series on a high mark.

8

They are weird movies for an acquired taste but they really are some fun movies.  It’s a shame that De Ossorio wasn’t a better filmmaker because with some better writing and less stock footage from the first film (of which there is a LOT) these would be complete classics.  As they stand they are fun horror oddities.  Creepy little side films that are not talked about much and are not that well known but which deserve to find a bigger audience.  Again, in all seriousness, these are the creepiest zombies I have ever seen.  EEP! Now I just wish someone would remake the series and get a better budget and better writers. That would make me smile.  For sure.

Coming this Spring to Flint!

Punk Rock Rummage Sale.

CASEY – 30 Years Later!

Paranormal Activity – Chronology – REVIEW

So here’s the deal, I am a huge Paranormal Activity fan. I appreciate that the series has become the bane of existence for the hardcore horror fans and that for many it’s further evidence of the infection of sequels that plagues Hollywood but, well, I don’t care. The movies are fun, are scary, and have something of a fireside spook story to them. So, needless to say, when I learned that the movies were being released as ‘one’ movie, edited together so that they ran together chronologically, well, I was all aboard.

My major concern with buying the films this way though, and yeah, you totally have to purchase the file digitally, was how ‘chronological’ the films were. To edit them all together so that they ran as one film meant that you’d have to 1. change the initial vision of the directors (which would just take an ‘okey doke’ from them I’d imagine and 2. it would mean moving some footage around so that the films work cohesively. Going into things I was more than a little worried about my purchase. I mean, who wants to drop a bunch of money on something then have it totally not be what we were hoping? We all do it but it’s one of those things that is hard to not be bitter about.

Wow, I can happily say that my fears were unnecessary. This is indeed the Paranormal Activity played out as one film, seamlessly edited together and telling one story, from beginning to its disturbing conclusion. The Chronoly plays out this way – PA 3, 2, and finally with 1. What the Chronology does here is eliminate the introduction to the third film since it isn’t needed – no need for an introduction to a film at the beginning of the story. Instead we are given the story of how Katie and her sister Kristie were first introduced to the malevolent spirit that plagues them in their adult years. The added footage you get here is all pretty solid, most of it focusing on character building more than on scares but there are a couple good scares onhand as well. As the third film ends though it plays immediately into the opening for the second film and the series from here on presents the theatrical versions of the second and first films with one exception, a brief exorcism scene in the second film performed by Martine, the housekeeper. This is a very brief scene but is a good way to lead into the climax of the film and I honestly don’t remember seeing it before, even in the deleted scenes for film two. The first film plays out as it did in theaters until that is the ending, which deviates a little in that the Chronology ends with the very ending of the second film, which tells what happened to sister Kristie’s family and baby Hunter after they had passed the attention of the demon ‘Toby’ on to sister Katie and her boyfriend. Ending the Chronology this way gives things a very bleak, grim ending that leaves you with a cliffhanger that still has yet to be addressed.

I honestly couldn’t be happier with the way the Chronology was put together and presented. I really wish it would have had the ‘director’s cuts’ of all three films but it is what it is. I will say that seeing all three films this way is a pretty hefty task. It’s a lot of film in one sitting. And the way it plays out it does call into question a lot of logic questions – why do they refer to things in the firs film that seem to be proven as false in the third? Who can say? It doesn’t kill the creepy mood of the films but, well, it is a bit of simple logic that seems to have been neglected as the series progressed.

All in all, I can’t say I’d recommend purchasing Paranormal Activity – Chronology unless you are a hardcore fan. If you are, it’s a great watch. Otherwise, it’s my hope that this will be presented as a rental eventually, or even a double dip so people can purchase a physical version. It’s a great achievment for nerds that is nearly perfect. Close but not quite. It’s awfully fun just the same.

8.5 out of 10

And if you like scares and ghost stories, check my site out and my books – Red Dreams, This Beautiful Darkness, or Noches De Corazones Negros. For more, click the link below.
My Books!

Looking for Agents and Publishers In All the Wrong Places

I, like about a ma-JILLION writers out there, am looking to generate some interest in a book. The book in question is my novel A Shadow Over Ever. I love the heck out of this book, and I am not saying that just because I began working on it eighteen years ago. Ok, that’s a reason to love it, let’s not be ridiculous here. I truly do love this book. It is something I never would have imagined I’d be capable of when I began writing it as a short story back in 1994. Since that time it has grown, matured, and if you look close, it has a couple whiskers.

Awww!

Well, I have not had the easiest time finding someone to either publish or represent the book so I figured I would post some info about the book here in case someone happened by and was interested in it. Can’t hurt, right?

Right?

I believe in this book. Completely. And I will self publish it if I have to but I’d rather not. I want this to have a chance to make it into more hands than self publishing can lead to.

So, for your consideration, dear reader -

A Shadow Over Ever

Approximately 180,000 words

A Shadow Over Ever is the story of Pete Anders, a man who had wanted nothing in the world but to remain anonymous but who is pulled into the heart of the greatest conflict to ever face Mankind and forced to become a hero for a world he no longer believes in.

After the death of his beloved his mind turns to vengeance and he turns his rage towards the town that has always treated him as an exile. His revenge is short lived though when his conscience gets the better of him but his brother, watching as Pete goes mad, isn’t ready for the blood to stop and continues the killing and creates the legend of Pete. When Pete finds he’s been framed it’s too late and death is the only thing to comfort him.

Even in death though there is no comfort for Pete, as he is awakened in his grave by the sounds of teenagers having sex on his grave. This time he decides that his vengeance is best served going after the people responsible for the death of his beloved and so he hunts them down one, by one, until he is left to face his brother at his very own grave. By this point though Pete’s need for blood has been satisfied and all he wants is to be done with everything and so he allows his brother to finish him in the hopes to find peace.

There is no peace for Pete Anders though and after his earthly death his journey begins in earnest. He awakens in Hell and is to be escorted to a private audience before the Creator, who is engaged in a war with its last remaining sibling. This sibling is the utter opposite of the Creator, and is a Destroyer and seeks to end all things in existence. Humanity is the last remaining thing standing between this destroyer and its goal. Life will not end without a fight though and, for reasons Pete will struggle to understand, he has been chosen as the man to lead the forces of the Creator against this enemy and against the First Children of Eden, who have taken sides with the darkness.

In a war that will engulf Mankind and will push a man to find the greatness in himself and to conquer the darkness that has always plagued him in order to defeat a true Darkness, everything is at risk as the last days for existence play out.

Pete Anders never asked for forgiveness but in order to become whole he must find forgiveness in himself and save a world he’s never felt a part of and trust in a god he’s never believed in.

About author Chris Ringler and his book -

A Shadow Over Ever is an epic fantasy/horror story about one man’s quest to save a world he doesn’t believe in any more and who must not only find belief in Mankind, but in himself as well. This is a story that deals with a war between the forces of heaven and the first children of Eden, in a fight that could mean the end of all existence. The idea behind the book is to examine ideas of redemption, faith, and to make a hero of a character many may initially see as a villain. This is a dark novel with touches of horror and fantasy and could be best classified as horror. I have completed work on the book and it is approximately 180,000 words.

In my career I have published six books from horror to fairy tale and have had several stories published. In 2011 I won Best In Blood for the website Horroraddicts and have had stories on their podcast and was published in Bare Bone #s 6, 7, and 9 as well as having had a story published in the November, 2005 issue of Cthulhu Sex Magazine. I have also received honorable mention in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror #19s and 20. I am very active in the promotion of my books and do several art shows and conventions each year to promote my work.

Curious?

grimringler@gmail.com

The Kreep Sheep–a dark fairy tale–$1 On Kindle!

The follow-up to my fairy tale The Meep Sheep, this is a book that continues in that tradition with stories of the World of Man, the Meep Sheep, the panda kingdom, and more. The Kreep Sheep is full of stories of the past and the future and fills in some of the gaps of history from the first book. If you love fairy tales, especially dark ones, then this is the book for you.

An Excerpt -

The Carnival King

 

There was a buzz running through the Kingdom of Man that was hard to ignore; it ran from the towns, through the forests, from the Great Thicket to here, where the crown and the Mistresses lived. All across the Kingdom things were being made ready for the Father’s Fair. After the Great Wars of the past the Kingdom had turned away from the rule of the kings and had sought a new rule, a new law, and with the guidance of the Song Mothers, who were first to come to this land from across the sea, and were the first to tame the wilds of what became the Kingdom, the first even to make contact and forge a friendship with the Pandas, a new chain of rule was created. The Kingdom would be ruled by a Queen, and this Queen would come from a royal lineage that lead back to the land across the seas, and which was connected to the Mothers themselves, and this woman would be known as a Mistress of Magic – someone who could wield magic in the name of the light and who would use it to lead the land away from the wars that had done so much damage to the people and Kingdom itself. While the world had literally changed since the Mistresses took over the rule, this did not mean that the Father’s of the Kingdom were forgotten for it was Highland Fathers that came across the far hills to meet with and befriend the Song Mothers first of all and it was from these men that the first Kings were born in the time before the Great Fall and the rise of King Brundt. The Father’s Festival was a chance for the Kingdom to remember the great deeds of the first kings, the Highland Fathers, and indeed all fathers, and was a time to rejoice and celebrate. For the Crown City this was made even more special as this was the place where the Carnival King would make his first appearance in nearly ten years. Even getting an audience with the Carnival King had been a dicey prospect after a run in with the woman known as Lady Hush, and the thing she called a daughter. Had it not been for the intervention of some of the animals of the land the King and his troupe may have been lost. That was then though and nothing like that had happened in the Kingdom of Man since Queen Anamare had taken the throne and so he had granted her an audience via Seeing Stone and she was somehow able to convince him to cross the seas once more and to travel the Kingdom. To say there was a buzz is like calling An Iperbah a Wumzoople. The air was electric with excitement.

Everyone was excited it seemed save for one very conspicuous person, the daughter of the Queen – Princess Messy. Miss Messy had heard all about the Carnival King and how great he and his troupe were from her teachers and Mr. Naysmith, her mother’s assistant and her keeper, or at least that’s what he seemed like. Any time Messy wanted to wander off and play in the mud, wanted to go for a walk in the woods, or wanted to do anything fun he was right there to make sure she had homework or chores or something else to do that kept her from getting into any trouble. What she needed more than anything though was trouble, and it seemed Mr. Naysmith was finally picking up on that. Rather, her mother had picked up on it and insisted that Mr. Naysmith let loose on the reigns a little, and the coming of the Carnival King was the perfect time for that.

Like what you read?

Want more?

Check out The Kreep Sheep on your Amazon Kindle for only $1!

MEEP!

The Meep Sheep–a fairy tale–Now on Kindle for $1

If your tastes lean less toward the dark horror than I have something you might be interested in. The Meep Sheep is my ode to the classic fairy tales of the past. I am really proud of the two Meep books and hope you like them as much as I do.

An excerpt from The Meep Sheep

Manda and the Pandas

Amanda was mad.

No, she was furious.

She looked out into the cold, dark night and saw nothing but green grass and green trees and green, green, green.

This was ridiculous.

It was Christmas Eve and there was no snow in sight. Not a bit, not an inch, there was not even a glimpse of any sort of snow anywhere and it didn’t look as if that was going to change anytime soon, and that was just ridiculous.

Welcome to Willow Falls, the smallest province in the Kingdom of Man and a place where you could have snow every day for a year and then have three weeks of sunlight with no night in sight. This sort of weather kept things interesting, to say the least, but it didn’t make things easy if you wanted to make plans. Amanda had been working on assignment taking pictures for the Kingdom Times for the past three weeks, covering the first national tour of the newly crowned Queen Messy and had been looking forward to her winter vacation. Winter was the time of the Renewal Festival which was a time of family and friends and where people would decorate their homes to give thanks to the gods of old, the gods of new, and to all the magic that made their world possible. For Amanda, the Renewal Festival meant that she’d get a much needed week off to see her boyfriend, her family, and to spend time with her dog. Ah, but things weren’t working out the way she’d hoped, not in the least.

None of this was to say she hadn’t enjoyed her tour, and she’d taken advantage of her travels with the Queen and her small entourage and had done some shopping in the more exotic shops and had gotten some gifts that really seemed to speak to the people she was buying them for. She was proudest of the Burping Bumberbash, which her mother was bound to love. She loved this time of year and as the days turned colder, her mind turned more and more to Renewal Eve and thoughts of her loved ones. All across the lands snow was beginning to fall, getting Manda giddy with excitement over the coming holidays. It seemed that everyone was getting into the spirit of things too as Messy herself had come to Amanda’s room as she was packing to bring her a special gift. The Queen had been much impressed with the talent of the young photographer and wanted to give her a gift that she might get some use from. Messy had gotten some clay from the village of Perrian, a place known for its fine potters and sculptors, and had made a simple enough looking bowl but one which, when it was filled with water, became something very powerful when the time was right.

Amanda didn’t quite understand why it was that Queen Messy was giving her this bowl which, though pretty and all, was an odd sort of gift, but she took it, thanked her highness, and packed it away. Amanda hurried so she could make it in time to the vanneroo she had rented. The driver seemed delighted though to be surrounded by the Queen and her aides and didn’t mind that Amanda was so late and even helped her with her bag. Content that she was going to have the sort of Renewal Festival her boyfriend always told her about, and which she’d heard tell of in the songs that people sang on their tour, Amanda fell into a deep sleep and dreamt.

~

@@@@@In her dreams she was with her friends, family, and boyfriend, sitting around the great, magical flame that would be conjured for all to tell stories around and to share the things they’d seen and done since the last time everyone had met. It was a wonderful dream but it was ended by the driver as he shook her awake.

“We’re here Miss, we’re here in Willow Falls.”

Amanda smiled and stretched inside the cab of the vaneroo as she got her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. The driver stood aside and let Amanda out and she stepped out into what she expected to be snow. When there was no corresponding crunch to her step she looked down and saw grass, and beyond that more grass, and grass, and grass, and grass.

Everything was green.

Winter hadn’t even made it yet and festival was only a day away.

Amanda’s heart sank.

She didn’t see the driver as he took her bag off of the vaneroo and didn’t hear him as he bid her a happy festival and didn’t notice at all when he drove off into the night.

All Amanda knew was that it was time for Renewal and there was no snow in sight.

Every story Amanda had ever heard about the festival told about how beautiful the snow was, and how it made everything seem so perfect. This was the first time she’d be celebrating the Renewal with anyone other than her mother and dog and realizing that she wasn’t going to have snow for her first Renewal with her boyfriend brought tears to her eyes.

She made her way home and saw that her message globe was blinking with messages but ignored it. She didn’t want anyone to know she was home yet. She had a day, a day to make things right, to make it snow, and whatever it took, she was going to do it.

Amanda sat on her couch and her dog nuzzled up alongside her and put his head in her lap. She petted him, as they both lay there, but her mind was somewhere else.

It was late when Amanda decided she had a place to start, somewhere she might find an answer, but as much as she wanted to get something done, she knew she had to get some rest.

So she slept.

And she dreamt.

And in her dreams it snowed.

The next morning Amanda got up early and dressed quickly then made her way to the office of the town elder. Her name was Iridor and she had inherited her mantle from her brother, who had been lost in a long ago battle with a tribe from the Great Thicket, but she had become the voice of reason in an age that had been very troubled until recently. Amanda came to Iridor and asked her one question and one question only – why?

That was all it took Iridor because she had seen Amanda coming to her in a Seeing Stone and had heard similar questions from the others in town. Why wasn’t it snowing, they all asked.

Why?

“It is the pandas, my dear. You see, they have always been jealous of our Renewal Festival and the things we share with one another in this time. They have no such customs and they resent that we do.”

Amanda frowned.

“But Iridor, how can they do this? What power do they have over the elements? How can they stop it from snowing?”

“Their elder possesses the Winter globe, one of the four globes the Narcissan kings had made for them so they might control the weather. The other three, Spring, Summer, and Fall, are lost, but the Winter globe came into the possession of the pandas and it seems they’ve decided to finally use it.”

“But what can we do to make them stop this? How do we convince them that this is wrong?”

“I would imagine that if the new queen were too…”

“There is no time for that though, madam Iridor. Tonight is Renewal Eve.”

“Then I guess for this year, there will be no snow. I am sorry child.”

Amanda’s frown deepened, but beneath it, there laid a smile waiting to be born.

The Meep Sheep – read the entire book on your Amazon Kindle for only $1

MEEP!

Down Dusty Aisles…

Now, this is going to sound very old-guy of me but sometimes I really feel bad for kids growing up today. Just, I suppose, as people from my parents’ generation felt bad for my generation. I think it’s just a cycle that continues on and on and on.

Why do I feel bad for the kids of today, you might ask?

Well, for me, a big part of my youth and teen years were spent in the movies, around the movies, and watching movies. It was a huge part of who I am today. Now, the kids of today can still go to see movies, can still make movies (and far better looking ones that we ever did, that’s for sure), and can still ‘rent’ movies but it will never be the same as when I was a kid For me, there were very, very few places as special as the video store.

For people that grew up in the ’80s and ’90s the video store was more than just a place to rent movies (VHS, though some amazing spots rented laserdiscs, those movies on large record sized platters, and those few places were always amazing to me, but I digress), it was a place to DISCOVER movies and truly, to fall in love. I look back on those days and I mourn their passing because it’s a part of our culture, a part of me, that’s truly lost, and it’s a shame.

Now, I will never tell you that I loved VHS or lasers more than I do DVD and Blu because I am a movie nerd and part of being one is being a bit of a snob and as such, well, you want this stuff not just to look good but to sound good, and now, to be packed with extras. Heck, I could do a post just on that aspect of movies and how spoiled we are to see how films are made, to see deleted scenes, alternate cuts, and to hear what the filmmakers have to say about their movies. That is still a relatively ‘new’ idea, new since lasers hit, really. Before the advent of that cinephile’s format, where you got films in their original aspect ratios, and at times, with the aforementioned extras, you were stuck looking for magazine articles or books about the movies you like and that’s not nearly enough for movies you’re nuts about. I can do you one better even since it still astounds me that so many foreign films, cult films, and weird oddities are getting releases now, and NICE releases that it still boggles my mind. So many movies I had to track down as bootlegs are finally getting some of the attention they deserved and I couldn’t be happier. But…video stores…that is something I still lament. It wasn’t the format that drew me to them, no, it was the movies themselves, and the act of discovery that they lead to. It was falling in love with movies for the first time and all that went into that courtship.

For me going to the video store made watching movies and discovering them far more formal than it is now. Now I can rent something via an online service and have it streamed to me in a matter of moments. I love the convenience but I miss the adventure. It is SO easy to see things now that I watch a lot of utter nonsense that I’d never have rented. Stuff that is so bad I just want to see how bad it is. But there was a lot of formality to going to the video store. You had to actually GO there, and once there you usually wandered around, even if you knew what you were looking for, just because there were always new releases, there were always hidden gems, and there were always that wonderful box art. And truly, box art for movie releases is as dying of an art as movie poster art itself is. Effective art on a movie box could make the worst trash look captivating. And what teenage guy could resist ogling the sleazy box art that filled the aisles. For someone like me, who is into horror films, it was a magical time. Sure, we didn’t get the amount of movies we do now, or in the pristine and loaded versions we get but back then you could discover movies from the likes of Lucio Fulci, Dario Argento, George Romero and others who you had never heard of before. You would wander the sections and be drawn in by the box art and then you’d read the synopsis and see the lurid, often gory images on the back of the box and you’d be sold. Sure, you rented a lot of trash that way but you found some gems in that trash as well. And you DISCOVERED. Indie movies, classics, and even blockbusters you were too cool to see in a theater were all there waiting for you to rent. That act of discovery invested you into what you were going to watch more than streaming or downloading ever can. Sure, you can discover the films but you don’t feel that connection you did when you held the box in your hands and ha to really want to see it. Heck, I still remember sneaking sleazy movies in with the other stuff I was renting, feeling like I was getting away with something taboo, as if I was beating the system. And nothing was better than that sleaze, not porn or anything else because the fact that you had to be sneaky in renting it made the sex and nudity all the sweeter.

And you didn’t just rent a movie. You rented MOVIES. You made a night of it. Whether alone or with other people you made it an event. You rented movies, you got drinks, you made popcorn or got food, and you settled in for a night of movies. As soon as one was done you were rewinding it or, if you were impatient, you were up and switching tapes. The spell couldn’t be broken. You were under the magic of the movies and you didn’t want to break it. And it was wonderful, and it was because of the stores. It was because of those often musty, over or under lit stores. When the corporations came in something changed forever, some of the magic was lost, but the trade-off was variety and more, more, more. And who can resist more?

Alas, video stores are all but gone now. There are still a few small boutique type shops in bigger cities, and there are a few chain stores left but it’s not really the same. Sure, you can go rent at a kiosk at a big chain store, or online, but it’s not as formal, it’s not as magical. You don’t tend to go rent movies you have never heard of, seen a trailer for, or know something about anymore. That age has passed.

Naturally you can take this scenario and change video stores for record stores or bookstores or any number of things and it doesn’t make it any less true. The act of going out and discovering things, ART, isn’t the same. I love the convenience of shopping online, and will still discover stuff but not in the same way. And it doesn’t feel like it used to. That magic is gone. That excitement is over. And you know what, in ten years, fifteen years kids from today will lament the good old days of MP3s, or Blu Rays, or DVDs, or the internet, or who knows what. It’s our nature to mourn as things pass out of existence. But in that mourning there is a chance to remember, to cherish, and to remind people what is important about the things we love, we adore, and we have passion for, and that’s the discovery, the magic. Because when that’s lost, does the love still somehow remain?

I still love movies, I always will, but I may never love them as much as I did as a kid, when seeing them, sharing them, and going to see them meant more than simply streaming or downloading something and casting it aside. It’s the experiences I remember most, not the movies, and we’re losing those experiences day by day.

This Beautiful Darkness- Now Only $1 On Kindle!

I am very happy to announce another book available for AMAZON’S KINDLE that is only a dollar to buy.

Here is an excerpt from one of the stories in This Beautiful Darkness -

The Place Things Go To Die

 

For as long as this place has existed, they have come here to bury the toys. We have come here to bury the toys.

Our toys.

This is their place, this is where the toys must go, and it’s we, the children, who must bury them because you bury what’s yours; that’s how it goes.

Ah, but it’s been a great many years since I have had a toy to bury out here in the field, but I still come here sometimes, late in the night, drawn by some dark magic I can’t resist. I come and I’ll sit under the great, lone tree, and will look out over the empty field and marvel at the place and what it’s become.

A graveyard.

Our graveyard.

A graveyard for toys and toys alone.

I’ll come here, in the darkness, my body unrecognizable to the boy I once was, bowed and broken but trying to move as if Death were not holding the door for me. Moving to mock my age and trying to be as fleet of foot as I had once been. I come here and sit and look out over this place and watch the phantom lights move out across the acres of wasted land. I watch them dance over the ground and moving over the burial ground where so many memories lay at rest. They move slow but deliberate, as if there is a plan to where they move and when. I found that if you stand here in your bare feet, as I have done since I was a boy, you can feel the heat bubbling up to the surface and coming up in waves. And I swear it, I swear it and those who come here would swear it that it is the heat of the toys coming up through the ground. The heat of their rage as it radiates upwards. The rage of all forgotten and abandoned things.

And it is that rage that has kept me up these many years.

I don’t sleep much anymore and will lie awake in the darkness of my bedroom and think about all the things I have buried here, each thing something I had loved as only a child can love – absolutely and completely. I think about the toys I buried and then I will look out the window and see all those great yellow monsters as they sleep, these machines of destruction and the signs claiming this land for a developer, and I shiver, as if they are to be the conqueror of what was never claimed. As if they can claim land no one can really own.

The field, the graveyard, destined to be yet another cookie-cutter subdivision. Another smudged sketch of the American dream.

I can’t help but wonder if they feel it when they are out there each day, those men with their machines. I wonder if they feel the power of this place. The sick, malignant, waiting power that has been patient for all these years I can’t even fathom.

I wonder if they have nightmares like I do.

Everything began for me, the fear, and the secret knowledge of this place, when I was a child, the time when we learn the darkest of life’s secrets.

Want to read more?

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Only $1

(It says $5 but it SHOULD be $1 darn it so give it a whirl!)

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RED DREAMS–Now Available for $1 On Kindle!

Check out my dark story collection Red Dreams now as an e-book for your Amazon Kindle for only a dollar.

Try a sample…

From Distant Temples

“Get, get away from her damn you.” Darin screamed.

Darin’s strength came out in its fullest as he grabbed my shoulders and pulled me back and away from her with such force that I toppled over backward and sprawled out onto the dusty floor. Dazed and quickly becoming enraged, I looked up at him and saw he was staring down at her now, as I must have, his eyes glazed, his body trembling, and his head slightly cocked as if he heard a faint voice. I felt sickened and confused. I started to speak but one look from Darin told me to hold my tongue and my anger melted away. I sat on the floor a moment then carefully stood and looked back towards the crate from where I stood, keeping my distance this time. All around the crate there were dark brown smudges and even thicker ones in the corner with the chair and into that darkness behind it the smudges turned to dried puddles and it was then that I realized that, beneath the scent of butterscotch was another smell, the smell of rotten meat. And then my attention fell onto the crate’s lid, and I saw that the point of its origin wasn’t burned away at all, that it was quite clear. It was then that I saw that she and the crate came from…

That was a sample from the story From Distant Temples. If you want to read that story and more, check out RED DREAMS for Kindle for $1, or order the book for $10.

RED DREAMS

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Noches De Corazones Negros–book sample

This is a sample from my newest book Noches De Corazones Negros

Little Mean Things

It was a mistake. A monster. A thing that

was not one of nature’s special creatures. It had no right to exist in a world of warm sunshine and cold science, of technology and dead gods but which existed despite all of that. In spite of it.

It existed.

And it was theirs.

As the three boys stood over their prey the woods moaned, wood grinding on wood, branches joining hands, leaves whispering as a slight breeze stirred from the east. The three didn’t even notice, their quarry run down and bleeding before them, its arms reaching out towards the woods, towards its home and trying to crawl towards the safe darkness but one of the boys was standing on its tail so it cannot move forward.

It’s caught.

The three boys, smiling silently now, the fat one out of breath, spread slowly out and surrounded the thing that lay on the grass before them and now there would be no escape. The short one, Karl, let out a loud guffawing laugh and approached the thing and kicked it in its side. It let out a pitiful moan and pulled away, its arms pulling clumps of grass and dirt up as it moved but another kick halted its progress and it lay motionless as Karl moved back into place.

The wind again, stronger this time. The thing lifted its head to feel it upon its face, its eyes, all five, closing as the cool spring wind runs across its flesh. Its mouths look as if they are smiling but then Victor, the oldest and tallest of the three moves forward and struck it with a rusty golf club.

Interested in reading more?

Check out the e-book for just a dollar!

http://www.amazon.com/Noches-De-Corazones-Negros-ebook/dp/B006OUZ1VI/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1325826781&sr=8-10

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