Let's Talk About Horror Fiction and Film
- Thread starter Spaceman Spiff
- Start date
That's a pretty good description. 
It doesn't focus on blood and gore; it's more about style and creativity. It's not really a retro mag, but it holds on to that feeling of late night Creature Features and Drive-In Movies.
It doesn't focus on blood and gore; it's more about style and creativity. It's not really a retro mag, but it holds on to that feeling of late night Creature Features and Drive-In Movies.
No Rue Morgue yet; it should be in next week, if it's on a four-week schedule.
I like it a lot. It's a little pricey at $10 an issue, but that's why I subscribed--it knocks it down to about $6.
The thing I like about it is that it covers the entire genre pretty well. If you're a horror fan, there will be something in it for you. There's always the big cover feature--last month's was Drag Me to Hell, the one before it was about Lux Interior of The Cramps--then you have upcoming DVD releases and reissues. They also cover horror books, music, comics, video games etc. And even a lot of the ads are great, leading you to websites you might not have known about, etc.
And its website design is fantastic. Check out Rue Morgue Radio!
The thing I like about it is that it covers the entire genre pretty well. If you're a horror fan, there will be something in it for you. There's always the big cover feature--last month's was Drag Me to Hell, the one before it was about Lux Interior of The Cramps--then you have upcoming DVD releases and reissues. They also cover horror books, music, comics, video games etc. And even a lot of the ads are great, leading you to websites you might not have known about, etc.
And its website design is fantastic. Check out Rue Morgue Radio!
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Groovy. "Tune in, turn on, drop dead."
It's pretty cool, so far. Music, interviews-- just like a regular radio station, only... horror! I've got to turn Neil at Shattered Corpse on to this, if he doesn't already know.
It's pretty cool, so far. Music, interviews-- just like a regular radio station, only... horror! I've got to turn Neil at Shattered Corpse on to this, if he doesn't already know.
Yeah, it's a lot of fun.
I've gone through the issue, and the Harryhausen features are really well done. There's an interview, followed by a brief history of stop-motion animation, and a review of a book about Harryhausen.
There's lots of other good stuff, including an article on the new Nazi zombie movie Dead Snow, as well as a review of similar movies. And you know you want the Cryptozoological Figure Set.
I've gone through the issue, and the Harryhausen features are really well done. There's an interview, followed by a brief history of stop-motion animation, and a review of a book about Harryhausen.
There's lots of other good stuff, including an article on the new Nazi zombie movie Dead Snow, as well as a review of similar movies. And you know you want the Cryptozoological Figure Set.
To take it back to books, right now I'm reading The Book of Lists: Horror, which is very interesting and fun. It's got contributions from all sorts of people working in or studying the genre, from Ray Bradbury to Eli Roth.
Some of the lists are pretty entertaining, like:
The film section takes up roughly the first half of the book. I just started on the horror fiction section last night. I've barely cracked into it, but there's already been some interesting stuff, such as "The Fifty-Six Bestselling Horror Books Since 1900."
Some of the lists are pretty entertaining, like:
- James Gunn's "My Nineteen Favorite Reasons Why God Made Humans so Squishy"
- Vince Churchill's "Top Ten List of Films in Which, Wow, the Black Guy Lived"
- Professor Leo Braudy's "Eleven Favorite Moments of Horror vs. Terror in Film"
- Tony Timpone's "Ten Films I Wish I Never Put on the Cover of Fangoria"
The film section takes up roughly the first half of the book. I just started on the horror fiction section last night. I've barely cracked into it, but there's already been some interesting stuff, such as "The Fifty-Six Bestselling Horror Books Since 1900."
That's cool. I love books with assortments of arcane facts and trivia. That definitely goes in the Shopping Cart. Too bad there's not one for Sci Fi....
I finished it up a couple of days ago; it was a pretty quick read. The only real criticism I have is that there are parts that can get repetitive. That is, certain movies/novels/scenes show up in a number of lists.
I guess it's not that surprising. Still, the book was a lot of fun.
Right now I'm re-reading portions of On Writing Horror: A Handbook by the Horror Writers Association and a couple of other books on writing, to sharpen myself up for diving into writing a horror novel.
I've always wanted to, but here's added reason for our aspiring horror writers to get typing:
LEISURE BOOKS PUTS OUT CALL FOR "FRESH BLOOD"
I guess it's not that surprising. Still, the book was a lot of fun.
Right now I'm re-reading portions of On Writing Horror: A Handbook by the Horror Writers Association and a couple of other books on writing, to sharpen myself up for diving into writing a horror novel.
I've always wanted to, but here's added reason for our aspiring horror writers to get typing:
LEISURE BOOKS PUTS OUT CALL FOR "FRESH BLOOD"
The deadline is September 30th, so it's time to get cracking!
^ Interesting, it was always my childhood intention to become a professional writer (or a stuntman 
) but 3 years of studying Journalism beat me into submission and I ended up avoiding writing anything ever again.
I'd like to give it a shot again, have seen a few of my friends tear their hair out trying to so something like this though.
) but 3 years of studying Journalism beat me into submission and I ended up avoiding writing anything ever again.I'd like to give it a shot again, have seen a few of my friends tear their hair out trying to so something like this though.
Too bad I don't have anything that long. I wish they'd accept short stories as samples. I do like the name "Dorchester Publishing," though.
I picked up that Rue Morgue at Borders yesterday afternoon. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to read the Harryhausen article today.
I picked up that Rue Morgue at Borders yesterday afternoon. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to read the Harryhausen article today.
Dorchester Publishing puts out the Leisure Books horror line. If you can get your foot in the door with them, well, it's a good spot to be if you want to be a horror writer. They publish two new horror novels per month. They don't really do much in the way of short stories, though.
If you look at past and present Stoker nominations, you see Leisure Books there a few times. They publish Brian Keene, Jack Ketchum, Richard Laymon--some pretty big names in modern horror.
I'd always planned on submitting something to them "one of these days," but with this contest and a promise of a contract, I've decided to stop putting it off. I have an unusual amount of free time these days, thanks to the economy. I might as well make use of it.
Go for it, Pingfah!
If you look at past and present Stoker nominations, you see Leisure Books there a few times. They publish Brian Keene, Jack Ketchum, Richard Laymon--some pretty big names in modern horror.
I'd always planned on submitting something to them "one of these days," but with this contest and a promise of a contract, I've decided to stop putting it off. I have an unusual amount of free time these days, thanks to the economy. I might as well make use of it.
Go for it, Pingfah!
I don't even have enough short stories in the Horror category to make up an anthology. Most of my fiction is... er... 'unclassifiable.'
I'll have to go through my notebooks and see if anything jumps out at me. I doubt if I could have anything ready by September 30th. I'm not a fast writer. I have a tendency to dwell on details....
I'll have to go through my notebooks and see if anything jumps out at me. I doubt if I could have anything ready by September 30th. I'm not a fast writer. I have a tendency to dwell on details....
If it helps any, a common suggestion in a lot of these fiction writing books is to first get it all out, then go back and dwell on what needs to be changed.
I know what you mean, though. I get hung up on weird things like opening lines, character names, etc. Too much hemming and hawing. I'm trying to get over that in both my writing and in cartooning.
The faster I try to do both, the better they come out. A quick sketch to throw it onto the page, then going back and fixing things like anatomy, etc. That's what I need to do with my writing.
Since we've linked to ChiZine already, here are their submission guidelines. For fiction, they want fewer than 4,000 words, which is right up your alley. They pay 7 cents per word. The only drawback is that they're not taking any new submissions until September 1st.
I know what you mean, though. I get hung up on weird things like opening lines, character names, etc. Too much hemming and hawing. I'm trying to get over that in both my writing and in cartooning.
The faster I try to do both, the better they come out. A quick sketch to throw it onto the page, then going back and fixing things like anatomy, etc. That's what I need to do with my writing.
Since we've linked to ChiZine already, here are their submission guidelines. For fiction, they want fewer than 4,000 words, which is right up your alley. They pay 7 cents per word. The only drawback is that they're not taking any new submissions until September 1st.
I haven't written anything for a decade or more, I suppose my worry would be that I could not get something up to the standard I require in 3 months when I am so out of practice.
On the other hand, this would make good practice in its own right.
I can't even quantify what 80-90,000 words is any more, i'll have to count a page of a novel later and work out how many words some other novels have.
On the other hand, this would make good practice in its own right.
I can't even quantify what 80-90,000 words is any more, i'll have to count a page of a novel later and work out how many words some other novels have.
Everything I check puts it at somewhere between 320 and 360 pages for a mass market edition, which is all Leisure really publishes.
If you can get out 3-4 pages a day, you can get there.
Edit: Heh, I just checked their FAQ:
If you can get out 3-4 pages a day, you can get there.
Edit: Heh, I just checked their FAQ:
I've been meaning to get that book.
I think you just sold me on finally getting off my ass and doing just that.
I tried to do that with NaNoWriMo last year. I managed to turn out about twenty-two pages off the top of my head. I have a ways to go with this issue.
Man, that's me all over. Also, finding just the right word and playing with sentence structure....
Sweet! Thank you. Weird Tales just lifted their moratorium after Memorial Day (allegedly), so I submitted my Coyote story.
Just quickly checking some of my manuscripts shows that a single-spaced 8.5x11 page with one-inch margins in WordPerfect holds an average of about five hundred words. So 80,000 words would be about 160 pages. Which agrees with Spiff's findings because they're probably using double-spacing.
For a laugh, here's the website for The Book of Zombie.
It's super low-budget, but it looks like it might be fun.
Also, I had a leftover Borders gift card from Christmas, so I picked up Monstrous: 20 Tales of Giant Creature Terror because, hey, 20 tales of giant creature terror.
I also grabbed My Work is Not Yet Done, a novella by Thomas Ligotti.
It's super low-budget, but it looks like it might be fun.
Also, I had a leftover Borders gift card from Christmas, so I picked up Monstrous: 20 Tales of Giant Creature Terror because, hey, 20 tales of giant creature terror.
I also grabbed My Work is Not Yet Done, a novella by Thomas Ligotti.
Hmm. I wonder if the creators have some sort of axe to grind.
Now that looks... er... awesome.
