Blog Archives
DARK DISCUSSIONS gets UNFRIENDED
Unfriended: Dark Web is now available on VOD and disc, and Dark Discussions goes deep into it as well as its predecessor, Unfriended, in episode 347. You can listen in on Stitcher, Itunes, and here: http://www.darkdiscussions.com/Pages/podcast_347.html
The Unfriended franchise is unique in that, while considered found footage, the story Read the rest of this entry
DARK DISCUSSIONS hunts down THE LURKING MAN
In a special episode of Dark Discussions, the crew talks with lead actor Dan Lench (“Sariel”) about inner demons, angels of death and 2017’s dark morality tale The Lurking Man.
The Lurking Man, based on one in a series of novels by Keith Rommel, played the 2017 festival circuit and won many awards. It was an Official Selection at the Austin Revolution Film Festival, Long Island International Film Expo, Miami Epic Festival, Love International Film Festival and GenCon Film Festival. It was a finalist at the Los Angeles Cinefest, won four awards at the Indie Fest Film Awards, and took home 13 awards, including Best Leading Actor (our friend Dan Lench) and Best Original Song.
If you’d like to check out the trailer, you can watch that here. If you haven’t seen the film, you can rent or buy it here.
You can listen to our review on Stitcher, Itunes and here: Dark Discussions – Episode 339 – The Lurking Man (2018)
The masthead for DARK DISCUSSIONS Episode 339, THE LURKING MAN. Collage by Philip Perron.
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.
A FRANKENSTEIN of a weekend: Ro-Con 2, Scares that Care
Cons! They are so much fun, but there are so many of them. Sometimes I’m lucky enough to have a choice on the same weekend—like this year; fortunately, it wasn’t hard (and it would have been), because circumstances beyond my control made the choice for me. I’ll be at Ro-Con 2 in Mystic, CT; my Dark Discussions co-hosts will be at Scares that Care in Williamsburg, VA…but at both, we’ll be discussing Frankenstein.
Ro-Con 2 “showcases all that the geeky and creative communities of Southeastern Connecticut have to offer.” The weekend is packed with panels on everything from self-defense and research to costuming and geek dating. The con also includes a writing track.
My schedule (subject to change – this is according to what’s available now) is as follows:
Saturday, Noon: Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading: I’ll be reading something from (probably) my most recently completed soon-to-be-published-in-Dark Passages 2 story “Mujina.” I’m not sure how many of us will be reading, but I know I’m joining the very awesome D.L. Carter!
Saturday, 3 p.m.: Submissions Workshop: Everything you need to know about the right way to submit your short stories to magazines or anthologies. Plenty of hand-outs! (Solo)
Saturday, 5 p.m.: Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Television in the ‘70s and ‘80s: Everything from the Bionic Man’s Bigfoot Episode to Wizards and Warriors and the original Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark! (with Mario DiGiacomo and Ari Alpert)
Sunday, Noon: Stuff Your Stories: Metaphor, simile, theme, motif…all the basics to enrich your story. (Solo)
Sunday, 3 p.m.: Bad Endings: What makes a good ending for a story? That depends. (With Keith R.A. DeCandido and Suzanne Reynolds-Alpert)
The weekend will kick off for me when I’m on the “Lake Geneva, 200 Years Later” panel—a discussion of Frankenstein and that summer night during “The Year Without a Summer”—with Mario DiGiacomo and Keith R.A. DeCandido at 10 p.m. on Friday, July 22.
For more information on Ro-Con 2 and to get tickets, visit here: http://ro-con-2.blogspot.com/
Meanwhile, approximately eight hours south at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Williamsburg, VA, the Dark Discussions Team will be paneling “Discussing Frankenstein” at Scares That Care. This third annual 501(c)(3) event is completely for the benefit of families with ill children or women with breast cancer; according to their website, to date they’ve donated over $100,000 to various organizations.
The Scares That Care Weekend has something for everyone: a 5K race, celebrity appearances, writer readings, film showings, zombie hunts, panels, seminars…you name it, they’ve got it. The Dark Discussions crew will have a table and raffle off items to help raise money for the cause, and co-hosts Eric, Mike, Phil, and Patrick Lacey’s “Discussing Frankenstein” panel will take place from 11 a.m. – Noon on Saturday, July 23. Philip and Patrick will also be reading from their work at some point during the weekend.
Find out more about Scares That Care—and get the weekend’s complete schedule of offerings—here: http://scaresthatcareweekend.com/
If you’re in or near either of these events, stop in and say hello. And if not? I hope you have one happy Frankenstein of a weekend!
Take time out for the Taco Society Presents!
A close-up of one component of the “set,” which is computer-generated imagery (yes! CGI!)
Recently, friend and fellow writer Stacey Longo and I had the privilege of traveling to Goffstown, New Hampshire, to appear on The Taco Society Presents!–a local access television program showcasing genre writers and their work.
The Taco Society’s name is inspired by Read the rest of this entry
Pilimancy’s just one thing on tap in ANTHOLOGY YEAR THREE: DISTANT DYING EMBER
Anthology Year Three: A Distant Dying Ember, published by The Four Horsemen — who have produced AnthoCon in Portsmouth, New Hampshire since 2011 — is now available in Kindle format (print edition is forthcoming). It features my flash fiction piece “skin&hair teeth&bones.” Although I’d written it as an assignment in the J. Eckleburg Workshops’ Magical Realism course in December 2013, the inspiration for the story came from a jar of baby teeth Read the rest of this entry
DARK DISCUSSIONS Opens THE CHERNOBYL DIARIES
Make your housework, drive to work or long car trip more interesting! The Chernobyl Diaries hit DVD and Blu-Ray this past Tuesday, and to mark the occasion Dark Discussions co-hosts Mike and Phil invited me to come on their show and discuss the film. Listen to the episode or download it to your device here: http://www.darkdiscussions.com/Pages/podcast_076.html
From the Dark Discussions website:
“On April 26th, 1986, near Pripyat, Ukraine, a human error occurred which caused the Chernobyl nuclear power plant #4 to explode and release radiation into the atmosphere. At the time it was classified as the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history. The area was afterwards considered uninhabitable. Today, years later, nature has reclaimed the area where plants and animals now live as if it were the wilderness.
Oren Peli, the creator of the Paranormal Activity film franchise, wrote and produced the 2012 film entitled Chernobyl Diaries. The film includes such up-and-coming stars as Olivia Taylor Dudley and Devin Kelley as well as being directed by visual effects expert Bradley Parker who has worked on such films as Fight Club and Let Me In. In the film Chernobyl Diaries, a group of six foreign tourists are taken to Pripyat on what the tour guide calls an extreme tour to see the site firsthand decades later and learn the history about the disaster. However, our guide and group of six tourists are suddenly left stranded when their vehicle appears sabotaged.
The film was just released for home theaters. Dark Discussions co-hosts Mike and Phil are joined by special guest Kristi Petersen Schoonover to discuss this horror film and the history behind Chernobyl and the Cold War. Other topics include the use of tragedy as a backdrop for both historical and exploitation film; radiation and nuclear power; the failure of the film at the box office; and how remarkably the film portrays atmosphere.”
