Thursday, October 31, 2013

THE COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN: DAY 31.5

(Oh, and one more thing...)


Of course, you know, it couldn't be over that easily!

There has to be the grasping hand, reaching from the grave,
that seemingly dead killer's eye opening up,
that last brain eating zombie that comes out of nowhere,
that one last thing that makes you jump, 
that wink and nod to let you know
how much you, the viewer
are appreciated.


Here are a dirty dozen different takes on the vampire from the traditional blood-sucking variety to those of a very different species
that THE GOODS guarantees to be...
good reads!


LOST SOULS
by Poppy Z. Brite



SUNGLASSES AFTER DARK
by Nancy A. Collins



THE PASSAGE
by Justin Cronin



SALEM’S LOT
by Stephen King



THE STAKE
by Richard Layman



NECROSCOPE
by Brian Lumley



I AM LEGEND
by Richard Matheson



THEY THIRST
by Robert R. McCammon



INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE
by Anne Rice



CARRION COMFORT
by Dan Simmons



CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT
by Dan Simmons



THE KEEP
by F. Paul Wilson


THE COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN: DAY 31

(Stoker's Story)


So here we are on the final day of the Countdown to Halloween and, again, I have to say it's been a fun, if somewhat harrowing, ride getting here!


(A photo of the award itself)

It's called the "BRAM STOKER AWARD" for a reason--the award granted to the authors of the works in the Horror genre voted best of the best each year by the Horror Writers Association.

With his novel, DRACULA, Bram Stoker changed the face of fiction.  Defining the vampire for the world for over a century and creating a villain the likes of which had rarely been seen before or since. 



Knowing the history of the myths and legends of vampires and knowing DRACULA itself backwards and forwards via viewings and readings and alternate takes over the years is one thing, knowing about the man who created the Count as we met him in his castle is quite another.  So I checked out a documentary entitled DRACULA: THE VAMPIRE AND THE VOIVODE
and found it to be quite a good look at the life of Stoker,
the wheres and whens and hows of his life
and his work as a writer.

Highly recommended and you can watch it streaming on Netflix...
but here's the trailer c/o the YouTubes:




A book like DRACULA gets published in every language, but let's concentrate only on the English editions I could find pictures of after a few days scanning the hills and valleys of the internet.
Over the years, see what wonderful variations there are...














Besides his masterpiece,
Bram Stoker wrote eleven other novels and three collections of short stories
and some other tales that hadn't been collected.

For anyone interested in any of his writing, much of it, if not all, is available for FREE at:



And don't forget:

TCM
HALLOWEEN DAY
OCTOBER 31, 2013

6AM -- The Curse of Frankenstein


7:30AM -- The Mummy (1959)



9AM -- Horror Castle


10:30AM -- The Castle of the Living Dead

12:15PM -- Dracula, Prince of Darkness


1:45PM -- The Devil’s Bride (The Devil Rides Out)



3:45PM -- Dracula Has Risen from the Grave



5:30PM -- Horror Express



8PM -- Pit and the Pendulum



9:30PM -- The Haunted Palace



11:15PM -- The Masque of the Red Death



1AM -- The Abominable Dr. Phibes



2:45AM -- Twice-Told Tales



5AM -- The Tomb of Ligeia



6:30AM -- The Conqueror Worm



8:15AM -- Theatre of Blood



Wednesday, October 30, 2013

THE COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN: DAY 30

(Frankenstein's Flea Market)



Since the ol' clock is winding down and the candle's getting low, I figure it's time to unload some of these items I planned on making better use of for the Countdown this year, but just didn't quite get around to.





These things happen, and it just goes to show that no matter how well prepared one might think they are, sometimes life gets in the way.  I don't want to refer to much of this as leftovers or remnants or spares, but more like an anthology.  I'm sure, once they're all pieced together like a patchwork Frankenstein monster the entire picture will become more clear!



Never fear, reader, dear, there's still a goodly focus on Bram Stoker's novel on the last day--the holiest day on my calendar.  But in the meantime, let us see what we have in our files...


(If you click it, he will give you a closer look)
Here we have what I believe to be a Jack Davis illustration of Bela's Dracula--
an ad for a door-length poster featuring said vampire!