Horror, Etc. the Resurrection

So, one of my favorite podcasts crawled back out of the grave a few years ago.

During its original run, Horror, Etc. cast long shadow cast across the horror landscape. Over the years, Anthony Mann and Kingstown Ted impacted the way horror was discussed on podcasts and influenced countless horror fans. Horror, Etc. introduced us to lesser-known work and re-contextualized classics in ways we’d never thought of before. (I’ll never forget the mind-blowing moment when I heard them describe And Then There Were None as a proto-slasher.)

I’ve written before about the show’s impact, and how many of their listeners turned out to create genre work, including me. Honestly, Horror Etc. is like the Velvet Underground of horror podcasting — not everyone knows who they are, but everyone who listened started creating on their own podcasts, novels, comics, Etc.

And again, this influential podcast came back from the dead three years ago. Yet somehow, I’ve never given them a proper shout-out on this site.

If you’re at all interested in checking out the show, the revival is a patreon-supported effort. For me, the mix of recommendations, insightful commentary, laughter, and nostalgia I get from the show is well worth the monthly fee.

Don’t want to pay? Check out the iTunes page from the original run. That’ll give you a feel for the vibe, and let you decide if you want to join in the creepy fun or not.

As for why it’s taking me so long to put together this post, I can only say to Anthony and Ted… “I learned it by watching you, okay?”

*(Seriously, I have no idea why it takes me so long to do some simple things.)

Introducing.... Love Spell

Holy Heck, it's a comic book!!!

I’m massively excited to announce my latest project: LOVE SPELL a horror comic made with visionary artist Jonathan Luna.

Dark, hilarious, and creepy as hell, Love Spell is the story of five college students who perform a ritual to make their crushes reciprocate their feelings, ending in demonic disaster.

I love comics. I even worked with a crew of friends to self-pub a line of comics way back in the 90s.

This is an opportunity to collaborate with an extraordinary artist on a fun (and wild) storyline. Jonathan is a visionary creator, with a distinct style backed up by over twenty years in the comic book industry. (Check out his work on titles like Alex + Ada, Girls, and Marvel’s Spider-Woman.)

If you’d like to give us a push, there are two things you can do, and they only cost a few minutes of your time:

1. Tell a friend!

   If you know someone who’d dig a book like this, let them know about it. Share on social media, and spread the word in general.

2. Register for notifications.

   This one is so cool. Love Spell is in “pre-launch” right now. If you go to the page (at this link) you’ll see a banner, a bit of text, and a button that says, “Notify me on launch”

   
   Clicking notify will simply drop you a notification when the campaign goes live — this costs absolutely nothing, but it’s shockingly helpful!

   
   Because here’s the thing… Kickstarter uses that “Notify” button to determine which projects get featured on the front page. If we get enough clicks on that button, we’ll get a MAJOR boost in attention. (Because, of course, we all live and die by the algorithm these days.)
   
   Now, heads-up: you’ll need to have (or sign up for) a Kickstarter account to do this. Kickstarter accounts are free, and I think it’s a great way to connect with creators, but I wanted to let you know in advance!

Titanshade $0.99 sale!

Great news! There's a flash sale on the Titanshade ebook over at Amazon, but only till 12/7.

At 99 cents, this is the lowest price it’s ever been. If you've been meaning to boost the amount of disco wizards, noir detectives, and monstrous(*) face mandibles in your life, NOW is the TIME!!

https://www.amazon.com/Titanshade-Dan.../dp/B07DT3HZFZ/

(*) or maybe they're sexy face mandibles. I'm not judging. You do you, my friend.

New Game -- What Sprouts in the Dark

I took part in Adventure Jam 2023 — hundreds of small teams worked for two weeks to produce the best possible adventure game they could.

I was in a team of two — myself and the artist ILikeThePixies — and we produced an illustrated text game about a cat on a spaceship facing down an invasive fungus. It’s called What Sprouts in the Dark, and it’s completely free to play in your browser.

Check it out here!

Mini-movie review: SANTA JAWS

For our Christmas Eve viewing, my lovely wife broke out a low-budget gem I'd never heard of... Santa Jaws.

We were expecting a casually slapped together, barely coherent CGI mush. Instead, it's a well-executed film that fully embraces the silly concept and is a fun watch from beginning to end.

The production values are surprisingly high, with sound, cinematography, and lighting all better than expected for a film with this kind of budget. The plot has holes but we were having too much fun to care about them.

Now, this film *definitely* benefited from us coming in with low expectations. I don't want to over-hype it or you'll be disappointed.

But it's one of those films where a talented director and crew made the most of what they had to work with. And that alone is kind of a Christmas Miracle, right?

Keanu Reeves and Lazlo Hollyfeld from Real Genius

It occurred to me the other day that the 21st century Keanu Reeves looks a hell of a lot like John Gries’s Lalzo Hollyfeld in Real Genius.

Now I think universes are merging, and I don’t understand why the internet isn’t talking about this.

These Books Made Me: Favorite Scooby-Doo Adventures

Man, I loved Scooby and the gang.

Still do, really.

Scooby-Doo was massively influential on most kids of the 70s and 80s, and I was no exception. The original series (Scooby-Doo, Where are You?) was filled with gorgeous backgrounds and fantastically creepy character design, making it a gateway to other tales of ghosts and ghouls.

I was hooked on Scooby as soon as I saw the show, and my mom fed my Scooby-mania the same way she always did: with books.

We had a few Scooby-related books, but the one that I read the most was Favorite Scooby-Doo Adventures. This oversized book was a collection of short stories, with a number of different writers and illustrators.

And that blew my tiny little mind.

All of the stories are fun, and they touched on some of my other early favorites, like prehistoric animals and the headless horseman.

But the thing that pushes it from being a beloved collection of stories to a book that shaped me as a person and a storyteller was that it was an anthology. The collection of styles was one of the first times I realized that multiple artists could interpret the same characters in multiple ways. (The other thing that opened my eyes to this were the Tolkien wall calendars.)

In addition, the range of art styles challenged me — I had a very distinct mental image of Mystery Incorporated, and seeing them represented in a different art style was a little confusing and, if I’m being honest, scary.

But that same disquiet is also what drew me back to the book, even as a very small kid. The original show had safe scares that drew me in, and Favorite Scooby-Doo Stories was scary in a meta way. It pushed my earliest concepts of narrative, and got me thinking about how different storytellers could approach the same material.

Plus, you know, it had ghosts.

Check it out -- Laurels!

I’ve just been cleared to announce that my short screenplay, "Grading on a Non-Euclidean Curve" is an official selection of the Lit Scares International Horror Festival.

Lit Scares is run by a group of comedians and horror aficionados in the U.K. They put on an annual festival filled with film screenings, stand-up comedy, music, and I’m happy to have my screenplay in their mix of awesome material.

I won’t be there for the festival in person, but I’m guessing it will consist of very serious people discussing my screenplay very seriously. Also, fart jokes.

Anyway, as promised: Laurels!

"Best Books set in a Modern Fantasy World" article at Shepherd

The good folks at Shepherd were kind enough to ask me to write an article talking about some of my favorite books. I decided to share five of the best fantasy novels set in a modern world.

You can find the article here: The best books set in a modern fantasy world

Shepherd is a new site built from the ground-up for book lovers. Their goal is to create a site that feels like you’re wandering around a bookstore, talking with other readers and booksellers. They’re sort of establishing themselves as an alternative to Goodreads, and I’m looking forward to seeing where they head next!

Story Behind the Story: Sin Titulo

This article was first written for Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. It was intended to run in the same issue as my short story, “Sin Titulo.” The article was ultimately was dropped, although the story ran. I recently saw it while cleaning out some file, and thought I’d share it here, in case it was of interest.

I first saw the words “Sin Titulo” in the 1990s, printed in italics at the top of an art gallery wall tag-- one of those small, white cards hung next to the art we’re theoretically there to see. A Spanish illiterate, I was left to imagine their meaning on my own.

Sin Titulo
Acrylic on Lead
1991

Wall tags tell us what the art is, though not what it means. And of course, “Sin Titulo” simply means “Untitled.” A relatable state, as I’m firmly of the belief that and sooner or later we all feel untitled.

For some of us it’s awkward adolescence. For others it’s early adulthood, when the unlimited potential of every choice overwhelms any single definite step we can take. We wrap ourselves in uniforms of clothing and attitude, labels or tattoos. At one point or another, everyone feels as if they’re seated at a table, trying to figure out the rules of a game that everyone else has already mastered.

Sin Titulo
Ink on Flesh
1998

Many of the names and images of this story are pulled from my own life. A high school friend had a younger brother named Egan. Another friend was named Kulwicki. And like the fictional Egan, I had a small cache of metal figures I’d dabbed with paint, tiny soldiers in a game for which I’d bought the rules, but too shy to invite anyone to play.

In time, the luckiest among us find friends and partners to join our games and share in our lives. We learn that we’re defined by how we treat the ones we love and, even more, by how we treat the ones we don’t. We may go through life wrapped in labels and uniforms, declaring who we want to be, but it doesn’t matter what we say;  it’s our relationships that show what life really means.

Sin Titulo
Words on Screen
2018