Blogging Bits (and Bloody Body Parts)

It’s been quite some time since I’ve ventured out of my slasher closet and explored the wide world of horror blogging. There is so much quality coming out of the blogging community these days, with members of the League of Tana Tea Drinkers leading the charge.

Some recent blogging bits that caught my eye and might interest you as well:

• The persuasive John Skipp (talented author of THE LONG LAST CALL and JAKE’s WAKE) talked me into including the newly-released THE HILLS RUN RED in BUTCHER KNIVES & BODY COUNTS (the forthcoming anthology on slasher films that I’m editing for Dark Scribe Press), so effusive was his praise for this film. Freddy in Space offers some balance to dear Skipp’s unbridled enthusiasm. (Don’t worry, Skipp…the essay is still included!)


• Jeff Allard over at Dinner with Max Jenke offers up a thoughtful retrospective on the merits of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.


• Max over at The Drunken Severed Head gets creepy-crawly with the pontiff.


• My favorite Final Girl Stacie Ponder brings her penchant for movie posters into the public domain.


• Chad Helder explores the stigma of horror poetry over at Unspeakable Horror. Speaking of horror poetry…


• …my own first professional stabs at verse can be found in the new anthology DEATH IN COMMON: POEMS FROM UNLIKELY VICTIMS (Daverana Enterprises). Taking a cue from Edgar Lee Master’s classic SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY, this collection explores unique lives lived and lost, connected only by the shadowy serial killer who murdered them. Among the contributing writers with whom I’m honored to share the table of contents are Michael Arnzen, Wrath James White, Christopher Conlon, Marge Simon, and Steve Vernon. My own contributions – “Tyro” and “Chatroom Hustler” – are the results of working with a patient and supportive editor like Rich Ristow. I hope you’ll read Chad’s blog post and then go right out and pick up a copy of this marvelously macabre collection. Expand your horizons a bit and enter the twisted world of horror poetry – this isn’t your high school poetry reading list, I promise.


• Fascination with Fear’s Christine Hadden offers 10 good reasons you should be watching HBO’s TRUE BLOOD and offers an extended rant on Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN II.


• My Kindertrauma buddies let loose on the latest remake, this time SyFy Channel’s miscast, misguided, and otherwise missed opportunity version of Stephen King’s CHILDREN OF THE CORN. And while I’m with dear Unkle Lancifer on child actor Preston Bailey not having the same fright appeal of the original’s John Franklin as Isaac and the spot-on assessment of Kandyse McClure as a “borderline intolerable one-note harpy”, I’m going to disagree with him on the new and improved Malachi (Daniel Newman). Newman holds his own against Courtney Gains in the original – plus he has better hair. Oh, hell…who am I kidding? I was just hoping he’d turn up shirtless over at Billy Loves Stu…


• …where pal Pax Romano has taken to cataloging the Best Bare Chests in Horror. In the first two installments, he ponders the pec-tacular appeal of such hottie horror hunks as Ryan Reynolds, Jesse Bradford, Christian Bale, and the entire cast of THE COVENANT. I smell a calendar.


• Speaking of Billy Loves Stu’s proprietor, belated thanks for his lovely bequeathing me with a 2009 HOT ZOMBIE AWARD for excellence in horror blogging! Now, I was a shoo-in to win in my category – Best Blog By a Gay Man Obsessed with Jamie Lee Curtis – but it was still a thrill (Miss Jody Watley, if you’re nasty!) to be recognized in such a…unique…way. Somebody get this man off of ZOMBIELAND’s website pronto!


• Writers like good reviews even better than awards, so imagine my happiness over two wonderful reviews for THE LITERARY SIX from Ross Horsley over at the esteemed Retro Slashers and Pax Romano over at Billy Loves Stu – who, I swear, is not paid to be so damn nice to me! Three years after the book’s release, it’s very gratifying to come across reviews like this from folks who’ve enjoyed it. Thanks, gents!


• Speaking of shameless self-promotion, I had the distinct honor of being the guest du jour on The Funky Werepig on September 20th, where I talked for about an hour and a half about writing, editing, slasher films, and some broad named Jamie Lee. Some of my blogging brethren were on hand during the taping including Amanda Reyes of Made-For-TV Mayhem and, yes, Pax Romano from Billy Loves Stu. Special thanks to hosts Greg Hall and Jezzy Wolfe for graciously welcoming me into their playpen, asking great questions, and making me sound far more accomplished than I have any right to sound. An extra special nod, too, to the delightful and wickedly talented Fran Friel who talked me up to great lengths during her own episode!


• Among the newer LOTT D blogs that I’ve enjoyed becoming acquainted with these past few months is the delicious Day of the Woman, the brainchild of the equally yummy (it’s not patronizing when a gay guy says it, so relax, people!) Brittney-Jade Colangelo. Ms. Colangelo is a ferociously fierce blogging ingénue who explores "the feminine side of fear." Her posts are articulate and firmly rooted in the female perspective (which is woefully lacking in the horror genre on all fronts). Interspersed between her thoughtful essays, popular features like “Terrible Poster Tuesday” and “Bitch of the Month”, and the occasional vlog (video blogs), you’ll find my favorite feature, “Woman of the Week”. Past honorees in this DOTW feature include real women like Diablo Cody and Danielle Harris to fictional dames like Sookie Stackhouse. Frequent guest Brian Solomon from The Vault of Horror also adds to this weekly worship of wonderful women, his most recent being a thoughtful tribute to the sublime Sigourney Weaver. Colangelo shows that age is just a number with a maturity that belies her years. Plus, she’s just freaking adorable in a Rumer Willis kind of way. Deserving winner of a 2009 HOT ZOMBIE AWARD for Best Blog Written by a Gay Man Trapped in the Body of a Sexy Young College Co-Ed.

Other notable newbies include:

• Frederick from My Monster Memories explores horrors past in a charmingly retro blog, where you’ll find everything from DARK SHADOWS to DINOSAURS ATTACK, from Fulci to FRANKENSTEIN.


• I Love Horror is another LOTT D newbie. Great reviews and thoughtful debates by Brad McHargue. Particularly good was his take on the importance of horror blogging which landed over at FANGORIA.


• Evil On Two Legs has long been a favorite, and their weekly feature on DVD releases is one of the best on the web. Corey and Jon do an outstanding job coming up with fun features, their decidedly catty “Fashion Of…” segments being among my personal favorites.


• Finally, head on over to the League of Tana Tea Drinkers homepage, where you can learn a little (OK, in some cases way more than you want to) about the talented folks behind your favorite horror blogs. Recent profiles include: John Cozzoli (Zombos Closet of Horror), Ryne Barber (The Moon Is a Dead World), Curt Purcell (Groovy Age of Horror), John Kenneth Muir (Reflections on Film/TV), Chad Helder (Unspeakable Horror), Nate Yapp (Classic Horror), Jeff Allard (Dinner With Max Jenke), Kim Paffenroth (Gospel of the Living Dead), Christine Hadden (Fascination With Fear), and Casey Criswell (Cinema Fromage, among others.