Month: October 2020

How I Spent October 2020

I spent October immersing myself in the horror genre. Well, okay, that’s something I do every month, but the pumpkin period is always a little different because a much larger chunk of my social media circle is doing the same and I look like a little less of a weirdo. Plus, the month saw me finish off some substantial pieces of horror-related blogging.

Which leaves me feeling free and breezy, really. Save for a few bits and pieces, my writing for the year is done, and I’ve got the time to focus on some long-gestating projects. I’m planning to spend the remaining two months of 2020 pushing Thoughts and Fears to gestation, making a dent in Monster Hunters, Dinosaur Lovers and boosting the wordcount of my novel.

Articles of mine published elsewhere this month:

Article topics for November and beyond:

October 2020: A Month in Horror

the-witches-2020-1

Halloween season came upon us, and here is a smattering of what we saw…

Monster imagery turned up in an unusual place this month when Luciano Garbati’s sculpture Medusa With the Head of Perseus, which dates from 2008, was installed across the road from the courthouses of Lower Manhattan’s Center Street. The statue has provoked much debate as to how well it succeeds as a post-MeToo feminist statement, but it undeniably makes a pretty awesome Halloween decoration.

October brought with it the traditional surge in horrific film and television, despite the pandemic. One of the biggest releases for the horror genre was the Netflix series The Haunting of Bly Manor, a spiritual successor to the earlier Haunting of Hill House – although, where that series was adapted from a story by Shirley Jackson, this one takes its cue from Henry James.

Continue reading “October 2020: A Month in Horror”

Werewolf Wednesday: Sword and Sandal Sensations

In the latest instalment in my Killer Horror Critic column on werewolf cinema, I’m looking at Hercules, Prisoner of Evil! It doesn’t sound like a werewolf film and, truth be told, I’m not sure if it actually is a werewolf film, but it was interesting enough to include…

Past instalments:

Spending Halloween with the Midnight Widows

Gabriela’s having zombie trouble — and you wouldn’t want to leave her hanging, would you?

Lately, I’ve been jamming with my ever-lovely art crew Marcela Hauptvogelova and Jio Butler to get Midnight Widows issue 2 finished by the end of the year. It’s coming along well, and I’m looking forward to having the issue done and dusted so I can share it with everybody. The story involves a flashback to Berlin in 1918, and will clue you in as to what the Widows had been getting up to before their present-day adventure seen in issue 1.

And for those of you who haven’t yet met the Widows, well, don’t forget that you can still get ahold of issue 1 as a digital copy simply by donating to my Patreon or Ko-Fi. If you like your Halloween reading to come in sequential art form, then Midnight Widows will be the title for you…

“Circus Girl, The Hunter, and Mirror Boy” by Neon Yang (2020 Ignyte Awards)

The Ignyte Awards have come and gone, but I haven’t quite finished covering the short stories and novelettes that got nominated. Today, I’m looking at the Best Novelette contender “Circus Girl, The Hunter, and Mirror Boy” by Neon Yang…

The main character of this story, Lynette, grew up in the circus, her mother being a performer. After she was orphaned as a teenager, Lynette was left at the mercy of a harsh environment: “The other women in the circus tried to project me as much as they could, but I eventually found out what people were willing to do to young girls when they no longer had the protection of a lion tamer.” Alfous, an escape artist, tries to rape her; when she struggles against him, he throws her into a water tank. Nearly drowning, Lynette meets a strange sight:

I thought I was going to die, until I saw that there was a boy in the water. He looked my age, with dark eyes and dark hair and skin yellow as the moon. “You can do it,” he said. I didn’t know him, but seeing I wasn’t alone calmed my panic.

Continue reading ““Circus Girl, The Hunter, and Mirror Boy” by Neon Yang (2020 Ignyte Awards)”

Werewolf Wednesday Meet the Mexican Mash-Up

Face of the Screaming Werewolf has one of the best titles in b-movie history, but how does it stack up as a film? Find out in the latest instalment of my Killer Horror Critic column on werewolf movies!

Past instalments: