THIS WRITING LIFE EPISODE 8: TOTAL BRAIN ERASURE
So…writers are thinking. All the time. How do we turn that off? Here’s one way to do it on Episode 8: Total Brain Erasure! You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/68NnQlQahm0
Keep in mind that just about any location you love that gets you to relax and focus on other activities besides writing will work. While I’ll say the vacation was incredibly effective in turning off my brain–as most Disney vacations are for me–I will say that cutting down the several hours of video I had while trying to tell an effective story in under five minutes was more than just a little challenging! Have fun!
Disney urban ghost story legends on Dave’s Disney View!
Have you ever seen anything creepy in Disney World?
I had a blast sharing some lesser-known urban ghost story legends of the Disney Parks on Dave’s Disney View! Tom Sawyer Island ghosts, weirdness in Animal Kingdom and much more. You can listen here: http://disneyview.blogspot.com/2017/04/episodes-281-282-urban-legends-at.html
Supposedly, there’s an area of the Animal Kingdom savanna where the animals won’t go.
The top of the Contemporary. There are rumors of spirits falling past the windows below.
Arbor Day Frightfest! Check out ARBOR DEMON
Arbor Demon is the latest release from Patrick Rea, who also directed Nailbiter (and I’m a huge fan of many of his short films…2013’s “The Hourglass Figure” is genius!) I may sound like I’m gushing, but I get excited when I find a filmmaker whose work is right up my alley.
About Arbor Demon, from IMDB: “An adventurous woman with a secret from her husband insists the couple go camping to reconnect. Something in the woods Read the rest of this entry
Who wants to PHONE HOME with this blast from the past?
My sister came down to visit last month. Six months ago, she moved across the country, and she found things when she was unpacking she’d forgotten about–most items were from the clean-out of our late father’s house.
Imagine how awesome it was when she pulled this out of her bag?
As kids in the 1980s, we played Read the rest of this entry
THIS WRITING LIFE EPISODE 9: TAPING THE TACO SOCIETY
In the latest episode of This Writing Life, Stacey Longo and I hit the road for New Hampshire, where we will be featured on an episode of the YouTube series The Taco Society. Some things we do as writers are more play than work (fighting with cocktail swords comes to mind) … and damn, green screens are cool!
Toasting to a job well done following the taping of The Taco Society Episode 12!
The Taco Society is a crew of writers (Tony Tremblay, Philip Perron, Sydney Leigh and Gardner Goldsmith) who interview other writers of dark fiction. Some episodes also feature readings of the writers’ work. You can check them out on their channel here.
Getting gussied up…writer Sydney Leigh brought us the coolest nail art to put on before the interview! Writer Stacey Longo checks it out.
DARK DISCUSSIONS gets SPLIT
The masthead for Dark Discussions Episode 270, SPLIT. Collage by Philip Perron.
M. Night Shyamalan’s newest thriller, Split, releases this Tuesday on DVD, Blu-Ray, and VOD. Dark Discussions tackled the film when it first hit the big screen in February (and if you haven’t seen it, it’s fantastic, so I’d do that before listening to us spoil it for you).
You can listen in right from the DD website here: http://www.darkdiscussions.com/Pages/podcast_270.html. You can also catch it on iTunes and Stitcher.
To watch or purchase Split, visit wherever you download or buy films–or just grab it on Amazon here: http://a.co/17Xq8L8
HOPPY EASTER!
…because nothing says Easter like a bunny wine glass (this is the Sophie Bunny glass from Pier 1) and Yankee Candles that smell like Jelly Beans…and Peeps (you have to REALLY. LOVE. marshmallow to like this one, FYI). Hoppy Easter everyone!
My story “Where There’s Smoke” soon to appear in THE HAUNTED TRAVELER
I’m not sure that the true cause of the fire was ever discovered. This is interesting — and it has a direct connection to my story even though I’ve never seen this headline before I posted this–I swear!
My short story “Where There’s Smoke” will appear in a forthcoming issue of The Haunted Traveler: A Roaming Anthology. The first half of the story takes place on the premises of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, which survives today on Greene Street in New York City (my brother lives near there). There is definitely a special brand of chilling silence in that area–at least for me. In fact, here’s an interesting article about the building’s current state: https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/triangle-fire-the-building-survives/?_r=0
If you’re not familiar with the tragedy, this Cornell University website is a good place to start: http://trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu/story/introduction.html
The Haunted Traveler publishes twice a year. You can find out more about it here. To check out past issues: Vol. 1, Issue 2; Vol. 2 Issue 1.
Disney Parks Fans: THRILL RIDE, new fiction from Bruce Kimmel
As you all know, I love books about the Disney Parks — but I’m especially excited about fiction set in or having to do with the Disney Parks. I just found a new one called Thrill Ride by Bruce Kimmel.
From the jacket description:
“1957. What if Walt Disney wanted a time-travel ride for his recently opened Disneyland, a peek into a city of the future and what it might hold – a thrilling ride. What if he had an Imagineer he felt could come up with what that future might hold and how the ride might work? What if that Imagineer, not wanting to merely posit what the future might hold, figures out a way to travel to the future to see exactly what it might hold?
Thrill Ride takes the reader on exactly that journey, from the Los Angeles of 1957 sixty years into the far-off future of 2017. What our time traveler finds there, who he meets, and whether he can actually get back to his own time, well, that’s the tale. So, climb aboard and come along on a fanciful thrill ride filled with humor, suspense, and surprises.”
I pre-ordered this and I got a signed surprise! HOW COOL IS THIS INSCRIPTION?
Richard Sherman (yes, THE Richard Sherman) says of Thrill Ride, “Kimmel does it again! He takes us on an unbelievable thrill ride that’s so believable that you forget it’s just make believe. When it’s over, you not only appreciate what was in the past but you also appreciate all that we have now. Bravo Bruce!”
Here’s me with Richard Sherman at a Sherman Brothers-themed Kritzerland Musical Revue at the Triad in NYC, November 15, 2014. I just about cried when he signed my favorite childhood album!
I’ll be writing a review of this as soon as I get the chance to read it (which I hope is soon; I have stacks and piles and more stacks and piles). If you’re interested in picking this up, you can order it anywhere you get books, however, it’s available at the author’s website here, and on Amazon here.
INK STAINS January 2018 issue update, call for subs: April, 2017
The last couple of months have been busy on the Ink Stains January 2018 issue. It hasn’t been easy finding pieces that ring my bell for this anthology–I’m looking for that specific something that’s intangible, really; pieces that are making a specific statement about decay that isn’t the same statement that any of the already accepted pieces have made. So far, though, I’ve been lucky! Since the last update, contracts have been signed to publish:
“The Depths,” by Elizabeth Allen
“Stikini,” by Travis D. Roberson
These will be Read the rest of this entry
