John Skipp and Craig Spector

Can't believe it took me so long to discover these guys. I just read The Cleanup by John Skipp and Craig Spector, and it was fantastic. Funny story: I got the paperback from the bookshelf downstairs in my apartment building when I moved it and finally finished it last night. If you don't know who they are, you need to check them out. I don't think I've ever read anything like The Cleanup before. It's a wild ride of epic proportions (I won't ruin it with a spoiler). In a way, I guess I did check them out a bit. I saw Fright Night in the eighties, the first good vampire film, in my opinion. I just don't think they had the technology to make a decent vamp flick before that. Of course the vamp film was perfected with Bram Stoker's Dracula, which Skipp and Spector had nothing to do with, but they definitely set the stage. John's writing with a different partner now, but I'm definitely buying all of Skipp's books, no matter whom he writes with.

Twilight

I've been knocking Twilight for some time (and now am knocking the werewolves that look like German Shepherds in New Moon) because it's trendy and stars pretty boys and dumb Bella Swan, thinking a vamp is a boyfriend. Goddamn it, you're they're food, not a girlfriend!

Anyway, I wanted to know what I was talking about, so I began to read the dreaded first novel in the saga. It's worse than I even thought it would be. The biggest overuse of the weak, to-be verb "was" that I'd ever seen followed by a boring story line had me yawning and shaking my head. It didn't hold my interest and I couldn't get past page five. Isn't Stephanie Meyer in a critique group? The first thing I learned in a crit group: avoid weak, to-be verbs as much as possible and go with active verbs instead.

I'd say it's young adult and impresses kids, but I know kids that think it's retarded. Well, at least now I know what I'm talking about when I say Twilight fucking sucks!

Like I said, I want to know what I'm talking about. Coming in the mail soon, the movie version of Twilight from Nextflix. Oh, the humanity!

Edward Woodward, star of The Wicker Man, dies.

The passing of Edward Woodward saddens me, the actor who played the uptight Christian copper in the good version of The Wicker Man (1973). He was mostly known for his non-horror roles and a string of solo albums where he performed the vocals. Wicker is one of my favorite horror movies ever, and his reactions to the insane Wiccans planning to sacrifice him to the god and goddess were excellent, the acting superb, believable, flawless--the man had me spellbound as I watched the flick ten times. Sad to lose anyone who made such a rich contribution to the horror genre. I can only hope that when Christopher Lee dies, the news shows him the same amount of respect, an actor much more active in the horror genre with his string of Hammer films where he played Count Dracula.

Friday the 13th

I guess I'm supposed to feel that it's going to be a bad day because it's Friday the 13th, but I don't. My dad always said while I was growing up that it could be a lucky day. I believe it. I got up early and got a lot accomplished on my computer that has hardly any memory. Most of the other days this week, the damn thing wouldn't work in the morning. (I'm switching to a better computer next month.)

Then again, I don't believe in superstitous bullshit.

And hey, the date works for horror! So it's all good.

How is horror faring?

It's looking well on the horror front as far as movies: Paranormal Activity bypassed Blair Witch as the biggest blockbuster of all time; I just saw Orphan and 666: the Child and they were both awesome. So how are we doing book-wise? Who's faring well, just King and Koontz (both of whom I love)? Well, it depends on how you look at it. Although I'm going the agent and big six publisher route when I finish my novel, when I sit down to read a horror novel, I'm just looking for something good, whether it's on a big house or not. Sarah Pinborough's Feeding Ground shreds, as does the new Brian Keene novel, Urban Gothic. In fact, the Leisure releases hardly have any shabby novels lately. I'm getting ready to buy Under the Dome by Stephen King, and his latest short story collection, Just After Sunset, was killer. Odd Hours by Dean Koontz had me spellbound. I'm getting ready to buy Death Metal by Armand: can't freaking wait for that one! And my story, "The Unwelcome Visitors," just kicked off in the Vermin anthology (rymfireebooks.com/vermin.html)!

Rock on!