THE GOODS: October 2013

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:

BramStoker.org

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...