Because Only a Day Spent with Family Could Inspire Such Violence...

Okay, maybe that's a little overly dramatic. The truth is I really enjoy Thanksgiving. I like the whole "Norman Rockwell" feel to the day. I like the dinner with the entire family around the big table. I like the crisp Autumn air (although as I type this, it is a muggy 76° outside, but a girl can dream), and most of all, I love the food. Fried turkey (yes, I said fried...deep fried Cajun-style, actually), cornbread dressing, broccoli salad, pumpkin pie...wow, I'm making myself hungry now. 

I also love the traditions of the horror movies that this holiday season inspires. Yes, there are Thanksgiving horror movies. 

Everyone knows about Eli Roth's fake trailer in the film Grindhouse Presents, Death Proof - Extended and Unrated (Two-Disc Special Edition) (which I heard was to be made into a real movie...but who knows). Brilliant. 

WARNING: The videos below include nudity, violence, and foul language. Cover the kiddo's eyes, please!

Though not as numerous as the other holiday horror movies (Christmas for some odd reason really brings out the murderous maniacs in horror films), there are a few real horror movies.

I give you ThanksKilling (2009)!



It is so awesomely bad that this year a second one was released. The tag line? He always comes back for seconds!

Need more? Why not try Thanxgiving (2006)?



Still hungry? Feeling nostalgic for the gritty feel of the 1970's horror film? BLOOD FREAK ~ TERA ANDERSON, DANA CULLIVAN, BOB CURRIER, AND DOLORES CURRIER 1972 is for you!



I really don't have anything to say about that one...except WOW. Okay, moving on.

Here's a few more:
Home Sweet Home (1981)

Children of the Corn (1984) Not really Thanksgiving, but corn can be just as creepy as turkey...

Icons of Horror Collection - Sam Katzman (The Giant Claw / Creature with the Atom Brain / Zombies of Mora Tau / The Werewolf) (1957) The monster in The Giant Claw will make you think twice about turkey.

BIRDEMIC - Shock and Terror (2008) Turkey-like vultures attack!

And finally a piece of pumpkin pie for dessert: The Pumpkin Karver (2006)

Enjoy your Thanksgiving! Remember what you're truly thankful for...and have fun!!

The Problem of "Us"

Is anyone else excited about The Walking Dead tonight?

I, for one, cannot wait. The pilot episode did not disappoint, and while the second episode brought up many questions, at least for me, as to whether or not the series could maintain its original promise, last week's episode "Tell It To the Frogs" dispelled any doubts I may have had. Quite honestly, I thought it was brilliant.

One of the reasons I love horror in general is how the genre lends itself to the epic struggle of good versus evil. For example, vampires are usually bad. We know very clearly who the bad guys are and who the good guys are. Zombies tend to fit this pattern. After all, everyone knows the object of the zombie movie is to kill the zombies, no questions asked. It is this paradigm that allows for such entertainment that a movie like Zombieland (2009) can produce. We love to watch our hero bash in some zombie brains.

The Walking Dead follows this model well. One of the characters even comments that it is "us versus the dead." The problem, though, in Darabont's world is not the dead--it is the "us." Flannery O'Connor in her short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" writes, using the voice of the Misfit, "She would have been a good woman [...] if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life," drawing upon the idea that in the face of death our humanity really shows through. The knowledge of our own mortality highlights the goodness in us, the true evil in us, and all those messy gray areas in between.

In The Walking Dead, as in life, the true horror is what we as humans are capable of doing to one another.

The third episode opens (and I promise if you're worried about spoilers, this is the only detail I give away) with Merle Dixon on the roof alone, handcuffed to a pipe after a recent scuffle. The image is a truly horrific one as we watch a man face his imminent death. Interestingly, similar to what the Misfit observes in the O'Connor story, Merle reaches out to Jesus, begging for help in between frantic and often angry outcries. The terror of the man's situation intensifies as the audience wrestles with the fact that another man put him in this situation, leaving him there to die. The chain and lock on the door only exemplify this problem: is it an act of kindness to keep the zombies out (a gruesome, painful, but quick death), or is it worse to let him slowly die of thirst and exposure? The characters themselves, like the audience, are not sure how to answer this question.

Maybe this is what I like about the show so far. It resists moralizing and preaching. The characters are not sure how to answer these tough questions. They struggle with defining morality just as we do. The past three episodes have already tackled difficult issues like race and gender, and the series has done so successfully thus far. Interestingly, religion has not been directly addressed, but it has been alluded to. The survivors have pondered over the ethics of their actions (looting the department store in Atlanta, for instance). In another subtle example, the van in the background of the survivor's campsite is a church van (Holy Cross Lutheran Church). Darabont has created a South that is, to borrow another of Flannery O'Connor's terms, "Christ-haunted." I have a feeling that this will be something the survivors will have to address at some point in the series. Are ideas like religion and faith still applicable in this post-apocalyptic world? What does it mean for ideas like heaven and hell if the dead are roaming the earth looking for their next meal? If ethics and morality are still important, then who determines right and wrong? And what happens when two people's ideas of right conflict?

I don't know how these questions will be answered, but I know I can't wait to tune in and see.

One Writer's Journey

I have had moderate success in my writing since I began pursuing it as a career just over a year ago. I've always liked writing, and books are a true obsession for me. I graduated with my Ph.D. in English Literature in 2009 and have been looking for work since then. When (like many of my colleagues) I could only get part-time adjunct work, I decided to use my free time at home to really work on my fiction. Since then, I've gotten numerous flash pieces published (thanks, MicroHorror! http://microhorror.com/microhorror); I've also had great encouragement from publishers. Like many writers know, the rejection letter is inevitable. What I didn't know is that it can also be cruel and kind in various degrees. At first, I was only receiving the typical "Thanks, but no thanks" letters. These were short, sweet, form letters that usually arrived quickly. Then, I began to notice the letters getting longer and more flattering. I continued to work on my prose, polishing my fiction, and sent those stories out again and again--making sure to wear my armor for all those rejections I knew were coming.


One day, the letter was a personal one. The editor personally complimented my work! It was another rejection, but I did get a request to send more stories. I have found that these kinds of rejections are becoming more and more common, and I'm taking that as good news. It's a sign that my work is being enjoyed; I just have to find the right market.


I think every writer needs a little encouragement now and then. This is not the easiest of professions, especially with all of the denials. I have found a few tips that have worked in building my confidence as a writer, and I hope these will help you as well:


1. Don't stop writing! Keep those fingers constantly on a pen or a keyboard. I hear too many people saying they want to be writers and they are doing little to no actual writing.
2. Don't stop reading. Read anything and everything (and not just writers like yourself--read lots of genres). How else will you learn what good writing is? How will you know what bad writing is?
3. Know your craft. I have found several books on writing helpful. Stephen King's On Writing has been immensely helpful; he gives clear and practical advice.

Also, every writer needs a good grammar handbook. I have several, including Strunk and White's handbook, which King recommends.















Once you do have writing you are ready to send out into the world, The Writer's Market will be invaluable in telling you where to send your material, as well as useful tips on how to write a cover letter.













If it sounds like a lot of work, it is! At times, it can be difficult to continue writing, especially when you have little or no paycheck for what amounts to a full time job, but we don't do it for the money, or the fame, or the bragging rights. If you're anything like me, you do it for the sheer love of it. I cannot imagine doing anything else, which brings me to my last point.

4. Have fun!

A friend of mine (another writer) recommended the "I Write Like" website (http://iwl.me/). It allows you to submit portions of your work and the "analyzer" tells you who you write like. This is mine:

http://iwl.me/s/b3a26720

Too much fun! Another internet addiction in the making...

Cheers to all of you, and happy writing!

The Guild - Halloween Special

I don't know if it's just me, but it seems like Christmas comes earlier every year. October barely ended before signs of Yuletide were popping up everywhere. Stores were taking down their black and orange Halloween decorations only to put up red tinsel and giant smiling snowmen (those ever-smiling snowmen somehow seem creepier to me than any zombie or vampire, but that's another subject entirely).

It feels premature. What happened to November? Thanksgiving? Since when did December 25 come directly after October 31. Not that I'm that attached to Thanksgiving. Aside from the food (my father makes a mean deep-fried Cajun turkey and my mother's stuffing is legendary), I could really care less about Thanksgiving. It always felt like a second-rate holiday anyway--just a reason to get off school/work. The thing that truly disturbs me is that Christmas might actually further encroach on the autumn season and endanger my favorite holiday: Halloween.

Maybe this is my one-woman stand against the marching army of Christmas, maybe it's my uncanny knack for wasting time on the internet, but I happened upon this video. I was late to The Guild--a friend recommended the show a few weeks ago. She warned me that it was addictive. I laughed off her warning. I could handle it, I assured her.

I was wrong.

In the course of just a few weeks, I have become the queen of procrastination. Why would I want to write when I could watch The Guild? After all, each episode is only a few minutes long (of course, like any delicious temptation, you can't have just one). I have now caught up with all four seasons, and in my yearning for more, I found this Halloween special.

So, here's to letting Halloween last just a little longer and keeping the Christmas music on mute for just a few more weeks. And here's to me getting back to my writing...

Frank Darabont’s The Walking Dead

The much anticipated television series The Walking Dead premiered on AMC last night. I know I was like a little kid at Christmas, practically giddy as I waited for the show to start. And it did not disappoint. While the pilot had its weaknesses (some overacting, a bad Southern accent or two, a few trite plot devices), I must say I am hooked. The special effects are absolutely amazing. Quite frankly, I found myself shocked more than once. I don’t know when I last saw zombies that looked that good (or that bad, as the case may be). The makeup effects were better than most big-budget movies. And bloodier.  Much bloodier. There were more than a few times that, squealing through fingers half covering my eyes, I exclaimed, “They can’t show that on television!”

Well, they can and they did. And I for one am ecstatic.

I will be tuning in again—and not just for the gore, though that will be a guarantee for future episodes, I am sure.

What really struck me was the humanity that the show itself has been built upon. The show appears to be written as more of a character study than pure survival zombie apocalypse story. At times, this seemed forced: the mother zombie causing her still-living son to burst into sobs. At other times, the humanity was gut-wrenching. One particularly difficult scene to watch was when Rick Grimes (played by Andrew Lincoln) sees a zombie woman crawling on the ground and decides to kill her out of mercy. The woman was in an advanced state of decay (missing a good part of her face, her legs reduced to fleshless bone), and it was the visual that first stopped me. I found the image profoundly disturbing. Zombies from recent films have seemed much more cartoonish—fast moving, strong—certainly not like this woman, who reflected the true horror of death. It is this, the idea of death, that makes zombies a lasting trope in movies and literature. As a culture, we are both fascinated and disturbed by the idea of death—dying, what happens after death, the possibility of everlasting life.

Perhaps my viewing of the show last night was colored a bit by a recent suicide in my community. The death shocked everyone, leaving more questions than answers. I don’t always have the right thing to say, and certainly not in this situation, but I do know a few things that I feel compelled to share, particularly in light of the rash of suicides that I hear about every time I turn on the news: We are not alone in this world. God made us to love each other and to take care of each other. More than that, God is a loving God, who is in control, even when it seems like the world itself is spinning out of control.

Hebrews 13: 5-6: Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. So we say with confidence, The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

1 Corinthians 10:13: No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful, he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.