“There’s something up there. Something that dates way back. Those woods belong to something else.” Jud Crandall uttered those words to Louis Creed in the book. I remember when I first read Pet Sematary back in the early 2000’s (I know, I was late to the party), the fact that there was something out there roaming through the trees stuck with me. I’m a big fan of the strange, unknowable things that lurk in the darkness. At that point in my life, I was reading all sorts of Lovecraftian tales and just wallowing the cosmic dread.

What I like most about the remake of the movie, is the heavy nod to that thing in the woods. It plays a bigger part than the 1989 version. I won’t spoil it here, but the new version even goes so far as to really delve into the motivations of the characters. Like, why would Jud ever in his right mind lead Louis to that burial ground to bury Ellie’s cat, Church? Deep down in his gut, he knew what would happen. Well, this rendition digs into that sour ground and sheds some light.

Fair warning, while this post avoids any major spoilers, it does get into what I consider perhaps minor spoilers if you aren't familiar with the story. Read at your own risk.

The remake does a lot of things very well, but it also falls flat in a number of places. Let me break them down. First and foremost, I think the 2019 version did a great job setting the atmosphere for the story. The first act is very well done, and we learn about all the characters. We get to see the Creeds try and adapt to a rural lifestyle. The road by their house and the trucks are almost a character, a villain lying in the background. This movie knows you have read the book or seen the older film, as it plays off those expectations, at times with a sly grin and wink, and at other times with a devilish smile and crazy eye. I loved those moments in the new film. Secondly, it doesn’t rely on too many jump scares, instead tries to build dread and eeriness.
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Second, let’s talk about Jud. I love Jud as a character and while I missed the accent from the 1989 film, John Lithgow does a fine job portraying him. He’s a likable character that you fall in love with right from the get-go. However, that love starts to turn stonier as the movie moves on, making you question his real motives, or what really happened to his wife. 

So we all know (or you should get from the trailer) that if you bury something in the old burial ground, it comes back…but as the saying implies, sometimes dead is better. It starts off with the Creed’s cat, Church. I felt as if the motivation to bring this version of Church back from the dead isn’t as fully developed as the book or the older movie and this is a problem with the movie, as it kind of rushes through the second act. I think an extra 15-20 minutes added to the film would have lent itself well and given us the few extra scenes or moments needed to fully realize some of the backstory. One thing the film does to redeem itself, is the ramping up the creep factor when they bring the child back from the dead (again, not really a spoiler). Some of the creepiest stuff isn’t the crazy serial killer version of the undead kid, it’s the just-got-back-from-the-woods-what’s-wrong-dad version of the kid.
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Another great point in this film is the expansion of Rachel and her fear of her late sister, Zelda. The original scenes of Zelda in the 1989 version of the film scared the living shit out of me as a kid (yeah, I saw the movie as a young child, probably explains my penchant for horror and scary shit). I think the directors realized that Zelda was scary for a lot of folks and ramped that up to a 10 in this film. 

The ending is different than both book and the 1989 version of the film, and I’m not really a fan of what they did. I read an article where the directors explain their idea behind it all, but I think the film could have been a lot better if they had stuck closer to the source material. I won’t spoil the ending here, but I rolled my eyes more than once.

Overall, was the movie great? No. It wasn’t. It did an excellent job setting things up, then went too fast through the rest of it. It does delve into some material from the book that I found to be great, and as mentioned before, Lithgow does a fine job playing Jud. Overall, I give it maybe 6.5 dead cats out of 10. I enjoyed it and was happy to see it. 

​I recently had the opportunity to watch Jordan Peele's newest horror flick, Us. This movie is a trip! It's creepy, weird, and bizarre. There's a lot to unpack here, but first things first, I'll give a general overview and my thoughts on the film. Then we'll get into the dastardly spoiler territory. 
 
The movie is about a about a woman named Adelaide (played by the awesome Lupita Nyong'o) vacationing at their summer home near Santa Cruz with her family. When Adelaide was younger, she was at the Santa Cruz boardwalk with her parents, wandered off to a mirrored fun-house, and encountered her doppelganger (or a copy of herself). The event traumatized Adelaide as a child and even as an adult she has trouble around big crowds and especially the beach. Lo and behold, the family decides to go to the Santa Cruz beach to meet with some friends. Fast-forward a bit and the family comes face-to-face with twisted copies of themselves later that night and craziness ensues as the doppelganger family invades the home and tries to subdue Adelaide and her family. We find out later that these copies, or Tethered as they are later named, came from underground complexes. This is important. 
 
This movie starts off with some text talking about thousands of miles of subterranean tunnels underneath the continental United States and how many of them have no known use. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the purpose of this statement. Obviously, it means something, but the movie could have pressed forward without it and nothing would have really suffered without it. However, the very next scene we see dozens of rabbits in cages and then a shot of an old television set with a couple of VHS tapes. Playing on the screen is an advertisement for the old Hands Across America charity (this is important and we'll get to it later on). The VHS tapes that stood out to me are C.H.U.D. (Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers) and Nightmare on Elm Street, obviously nods to the 80's horror scene. In fact, throughout the movie, there are other nods to horror movies like Jaws, Wolfman (given the mask that the son is wearing throughout the film), and even a nod to Michael Jackson's Thriller. 
 
There is a common theme among these movies for the most part, and that's terror from within, or from the deep/underground. The Tethered lived underground and spilled forth upon the surface during their attack and take the nation by surprise.  

​You will want to familiarize yourself with the bible verse, Jeremiah 11:11.  Early on Adelaide walks by a man on the boardwalk holding a sigh with Jeremiah 11:11 listed and throughout the whole film I was wondering what it said and how it connected. It pops up again a few times in the movie driving home the point that it's important. For those of you curious, here is what it says: Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them. I have my own thoughts as to what it means in relation to the movie and I believe it's referencing the Tethered coming out from the darkness to destroy the surface dwellers.
 
This movie is layered and I bet there is a lot I missed during this viewing. However, what stuck with me, was the great acting. I loved the dad's sense of humor (played by Winston Duke), plus as I mentioned before, Lupita Nyong'o  nails it. The actors in the movie also play the part of their Tethered, and for the most part, they do a great job at this. 
 
Word of warning, if you are the type who likes to know the whole story and have all the questions answered, then you may be disappointed with the way this movie ends. It doesn't answer everything, and there was a lot of why this or why that still left on the plate. However, I'm the type who likes to fill in my own blanks and come up with my own ideas, so I quite enjoyed it. 

​Now on to some of the bads with the movie. First off, it feels like it's a little long for the story it's giving us. The movie is about two hours in length and I think they could have easily cut 20 minutes of it and still had a great show. In fact, I think they could have cut the entire scene with the friends of the family near the end and it wouldn't have suffered. The only thing that entire sequence showed us, was that the Tethered were violent/homicidal. We get that with other scenes and images from the movie. In fact, that sequence in particular just raises more questions than anything...but we'll get to that in the spoiler section because I can't raise the questions without spoiling things. 
 
There were a number of other questions that came up, but I really can't get into those here. So we'll just end this general review and get into the spoilers and an in-depth analysis of the film. To recap, this is a great movie that I think can appeal to casual moviegoers and those looking for deeper meanings alike. There are some genuinely creepy moments and it really taps into that fear of the unknown. I definitely recommend it.
 
Now, on to the spoilers...if you don't want to know, turn away now! Don't go into the fun house! Run towards the light!

​I warned you!
 
Still here? Your fault now. 
 
Okay, let's dig into this. Spoilers abound. So mentioned above I talked about the Tethered and how they were living underground. That's all fine and dandy. We see that they are copies of people up on the surface and they kind of mimic what's going on up there in a weird, off-kilter way that is disturbing. We find out later from Red (Adelaide's doppelganger) that they exist in part due to a government experiment that was trying to figure out a way to control people. At some point, the government abandoned the experiment and just left these Tethered down there. Red mentions it had something to do with being able to clone the body but not the soul. 
 
Okay, that's all fine and good and I don't really need to know much more than that. The movie isn't about that anyway. The movie, based on my own interpretation, is about this duality. We have the "normal" world living their life above ground, enjoying their freedoms and luxuries, while the Tethered are forced to dwell beneath the surface, living a twisted and mocking version of their counterparts above. Their only source of food is the rabbits, which why we see them in cages at the beginning. I also think the rabbits represent the Tethered in a way, representing experimentation and imprisonment, because when the Tethered finally make their way to the surface, we see that the rabbits are all out of their cages now. 
 
Here's a major spoiler about the ending...we find out that Adelaide is really the Tethered from the underground complex. Basically, she subdued the real Adelaide and dragged her down underground and "tethered" her to one of the beds, then she went back up to the surface and assumed Adelaide's life. Okay, it's a twist, right? Well, it's one that was somewhat apparent as the movie went on, and when it was actually revealed, it just raised more questions. For example, why didn't she just run away from the complex and back to the surface at the first moment she could? Was there something about being down there that kept her under control? She's the only one that can kind of talk (the rest of the Tethered just make odd grunts and animal noises to communicate), but why is it so hard for her to talk? I mean, she looked like she was seven or eight when she was taken. I'm guessing has to do with that control aspect that she mentions later in the movie. Because otherwise, why would she stay down there and basically do the same things that the fake Adelaide (or the real one...not sure at this point) was doing on the surface (i.e. having a family). Nyong'o does a great job playing both roles and does amazing at starting to show little ticks that point to her being originally a Tethered. For example, when she's fighting other Tethered, she starts to get a little more primal, and her mannerisms and noises she makes begin to mirror her attackers.
 
Second, we find out later that the Tethered's goal was to come up, kill their copies, and then form this human chain in the same fashion as the Hands Across America (which is why they are all wearing red jumpsuits). The next question is why? Was it to bring attention to their existence, like the original Hands Across America was supposed to bring attention to homelessness? I don't really need an explanation about that part really, it kind of just adds to the creepiness of it all. However, the only reason I ask is in relation to the part where we see the destruction of the family friends in typical slasher fashion. Because it seems like the goal was to get up there, take out folks, then form the chain. However, the Tethered version of the friends go up there, take out their clones then apparently just kind of mess around for no reason, getting all dressed up in the clothing and make-up of their dead surface dweller versions. This was another reason why I think we could have done without that whole beat. It just muddled everything. We get the fact that the Tethered are killing folks when Adelaide and her family start driving around and see that the whole town is basically turning into an apocalyptic war zone littered with dead bodies. 
 
Those criticisms aside, the movie really is worth seeing. Jordan Peele is doing amazing things with horror, especially weird horror. I can't wait to see what he does with Twilight Zone. 
 
 

I recently finished the book, Unbury Carol by Josh Malerman. If you recognize the name, it’s probably because he is the author of Bird Box which recently was made into a film by Netflix and has gained a lot of attention. I picked up Unbury Carol back in the day because I enjoyed reading Bird Box and Carol is a western horror which is right up my alley.

The book is about a woman named Carol who has a disease that puts her in a coma-like state. She can appear dead to the untrained eye as all her vitals slow down. In the book, there are only a few people who know about her condition: her husband, Dwight, her close friend, John Bowie, and her ex-fling, James Moxie. Moxie is an infamous outlaw, made famous from a gun-duel he won years ago where it seemed like he never drew his weapon, yet his opponent died of a gunshot wound. Everyone believed he won through the use of magic and his name went down in history. Carol’s close friend John Bowie dies, taking Carol’s secret to his grave. Once he dies, Dwight enacts a plan to basically bury Carol once she slips into another one of her episodes and inherit her money.

Carol decides she wants another person to confide in and begins to tell one of her staff members but falls into a coma-like sleep before she can get the word out. However, before succumbing to the disease, she told her staff/friend that she used to be involved with James Moxie and for whatever reason, the help sends word to Mr. Moxie.

Once he gets word of what happened, he drops everything and hits the Trail (yes, it’s personified in the book as a character) and heads towards Carol to save her from being buried alive. Dwight hears of this and hires a notorious hitman to track down and kill Moxie before he can arrive, a man who has a penchant for lighting fires.
Let’s get into the good with this book. First off, the setting and the characters were intriguing. I love westerns, and really love weird westerns or western horror stories. I think the setting is ripe for those crossovers. What was fun about this book, is that Malerman puts in small bits of the supernatural. For example, whenever Carol slips into one of her episodes, she goes to a shadowy realm she’s dubbed, Howltown. While there, there is an entity known as Rot that pesters her, angry that she keeps ‘dying’ but doesn’t decay like a good corpse should. Rot manifests in other ways throughout the book to harass Moxie and stop his journey back to Carol.

Moxie himself is an interesting character, living off the results of that legendary duel so many years ago. As a reader you begin to wonder if it actually happened, or if it was blown out of proportion. I’ll get into a bit a later in the spoiler section.

The story is cinematic in scope, as I could see this playing out in the big screen and being entertaining. However, the story drags in parts, which leads me to the bads of Unbury Carol.

There were a lot of times we’d get chapters dealing with minor characters in the story, such as the grave-diggers, the staff, or some random guy in some random town. Quite frankly, these sections probably could have been removed without much ill effect to the overall narrative. I was only interested in Moxie, his pursuer, Carol, Dwight, and somewhat with the sheriff. I will be honest that I didn’t’ read this book fast. I read it over the period of a few months, picking it up and putting it back down. It was interesting enough that I wanted to finish it, but not gripping enough that I HAD to finish it immediately.

Second, Carol herself was kind of a non-player through the story. Her scenes in the book didn’t have much impact overall until the end. I wanted her to have more of a part, and I suppose in a way that same frustration was felt by her as she wanted to have more of a part. I’ll be honest though, that my want for her to have more of part clashes with my feelings for the ending and I don’t know what to make of it.

Third, in reality, Dwight could have ended this by smothering her in her one of her comas and then the whole book wouldn’t have happened. I couldn’t forget that point as I read the story and whenever Dwight would show up in a scene all agitated with Moxie coming and the sheriff putting the pressure on his investigation, it was hard to wonder why Dwight never did such a thing to begin with. I mean, if he’s willing to bury her alive, why wouldn’t he be just as willing to cover her face with a pillow?

Before I get to my main issue with the book, I want to give my overall opinion. Because my main issue will get into spoilers. Overall, it’s a good read. If you like westerns, and you like horror, give it a read. I give the story maybe 6/10 overall. Now, on to the last point and spoilers.

Still here? That means you’re cool with spoilers. Last chance to veer off if you don’t want to know. My main problem with the book is the ending. In my opinion, this whole story was about James Moxie riding to save Carol from an untimely death and coming to terms with the decision he made many years ago to leave her in the first place. It’s a redemption arc for him. When he finally gets through all the obstacles and is about to dig up Carol from the ground, we find that she escaped last minute because she came to and used some crazy mechanical casket contraption that her mother built for Carol before she died and had delivered with instructions that her daughter be buried in it.

One, this casket was never really mentioned before. Which I get it, it would have given away the ending and suspense. But come on! This whole story is about Moxie coming for her. Then in one fell swoop, his entire journey is invalidated. I felt like I was cheated. And don’t get me wrong, I am super happy that Carol was able to take care of herself, but with all the lead up to what was supposed to happen, it didn’t feel right.

Next, let’s talk about Moxie’s power to fire his gun with magic. That was a fun little mystery…until the end once again. For starters, we never know if he can do it through some supernatural ability or not. He never talks about what happened during that duel, and there is a scene when he’s detained by a sheriff in a town along the Trail and the deputies are messing with his gun. When he finally decides that they aren’t going to let him out, the gun goes off by itself, seemingly by Moxie’s will. At that point, my mouth was open and I was like, holy shit, he can do magic. Then, at the end he kills Carol’s husband, Dwight, by rigging up multiple pistols with string to fire, possibly implying that he was using strings the whole time to pull off his magical shooting pistol trick. However, the whole thing just doesn’t sit well with me or explain much.
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Anyway, it was a cool story overall, but the ending fell short for me and left me with a taste of Rot in my mouth.

If you haven’t read, Bad Man, by Dathan Auerbach then you’re missing out. I was first introduced to Auerbach with his debut novel, Penpal which is an excellent read as well. With his latest novel we’re thrown into a world of tension and weirdness when Ben loses his little brother, Eric (who is three years old at the time) at a supermarket. One moment the boy is there, the next, he’s gone. Fast-forward five years and we get to see the emotional and psychological toll of such an event on both Ben and his parents.

Eric was never found and Ben is convinced that the police didn’t do a good enough job. He is also convinced that Eric is still alive. He suspects multiple folks and as we go through the novel, we start to see that Ben’s point-of-view is skewed. To say that strange things start happening once Ben starts working the night shift at the very grocery store that the event occurred, would be an understatement. Auerbach has a way with words that get under your skin, and the imagery he can paint it quite vivid. On top of that, his characters are top notch. They’ve all got their secrets and those little hooks kept me reading going. The way Auerbach weaved the narrative together is masterful. Many times I had to go on to the next chapter because of a bombshell chapter-end. Thanks for the late nights.

Auerbach’s characters are full of depths and secrets. As the story evolves, you’re left wondering who’s hiding what, and how it could be connected. The tone and atmosphere that Auerbach builds is rich and tense, and the dark imagery that he shows us is creepy as hell.

I highly recommend this book. It’s been quite a while since I read such a creepy and disturbing read. 

​Check it out here.

This year’s archery elk hunt has been one of the most exciting and frustrating hunts for some time. I came up scouting with the wife in July. We’d picked out a place to go check out that looked awesome on the map. However, driving up to where we would start out hike turned out to be a big pain in the ass due to rough roads. Then hiking up there was even crazier, only to find out that the spot we had picked seemed to be a bastion for fishermen and day hikers, with little to no sign of elk.
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Fast forward to late August. I came up for an early season hunt with my dad and we went up into this area that was full of ponds, wallows, and lush grass. I’d seen elk sign there before and had set up my trail cams in the area. We checked the cams and had cow elk and deer hitting both spots, one even showed a visitation from that morning! So I set my dad up on the pond where my camera had been hoping the elk would come back, and I started my timber stalk. Every now and then I would hit my cow call hoping to get something’s attention, and to hopefully make them think I was a cow elk lumbering through the woods. After about two hours, I get an answer. Another cow elk lets out a mew in response to my call. I see her slinking through the tree line across this meadow I had set up on. We talk back and forth for a moment, and I noticed that she continued to come through the tree line. I guesstimate whereabouts she may cross in front of me and range it out at 20 yards. Couldn’t ask for a more perfect shot. As she goes behind some trees and I draw my bow and wait, and low and behold, she crossed where I thought…well, almost where I thought. She was further back. I couldn’t range again because I was at full draw and I didn’t want to spook her, so I made a quick guess and put my 40-yard pin on her. I let loose and woosh! My arrow sails right over her back. I guessed wrong. She leaves barking up a storm letting everything else area know I’m there. After A LOT of searching (combined two hours over the course of three days) I found my arrow lodged in a tree. I’ve kicked myself in the ass ever since missing that shot because everything was set up perfect. Ah well, live and learn.

The rest of that hunt was uneventful. Fast-forward a couple weeks, and my dad and I are back at it. We set the trail cams up in a couple different spots, both of which show elk coming in, but over a week prior. We begin our hunt. In the mornings and evenings, we hunt certain spots without success. In the afternoons I decide not to take any time off and go scouting new areas. I think over the course of three days I logged over 25 miles hiking around, timber stalking, and scouting. Most of the outings were a bust, finding out that there was very little sign or whatnot, and covering some really rough terrain. However, a couple of the afternoon adventures proved to have results, even if I wasn’t ready.
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In one outing, I went scouting down these canyons and had to crawl back up a mountain. By the time I got to the top, it was about 2 pm and I was dead-dog tired. I found an old road and started walking down that because I figured it would take me back to the vehicle. At one point I look up and lock eyes with a spike elk with a messed-up antler. As soon as we see each other he took off. I don’t know if I even had my bow in timber-stalk mode (arrow nocked, and release hooked) if I would have been able to get a shot off. But, I saw an elk and a bull at that. 

The next day, I decided to hike from one of my usual haunts over the country to the next one. It turns out to be about 3.6 miles total over deadfall city. Early on, I hear a bugle in the distance. So, I bugled back. In the back of my mind, I thought it was probably another hunter because it was late morning (around 1000) and up until this point the elk had been in stealth mode, not a peep. But, I had to see it through on the off chance that it was real. I moved in closer each time it called out and answered with my own bugle a few times. I finally got to where it sounded like it was maybe 500 yards away down this ridge. So I set up my ambush. It bugled, and I would bugle back trying every trick I could to piss it off. It kept coming in closer, and I was starting to think this was really going to go down. However, after about 30 minutes, some movement catches my eye and I spy another hunter. We’d both been duped! I moved out of my spot and waved, and we went on about our day. It’s nice to know that my bugles and cow calls sound authentic enough to fool hunters and a cow.
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During rest of my trek, the only thing I learned, is that all the fresh sign is closer to each of my usual spots and not up in the shit where you would expect it to be. However, one the way back, I spook an elk up from its bed, and when I get back to the place where I’ve seen elk in the trees before, I go back into timber stalking mode, and I hunt, moving very slowly down the mountain. If I had been hunting doe, I could have had a shot at two of them. Anyway, I get to the point where I’m almost back to camp and I put my arrow away and stop my stalk. You see, I’d never seen any sign or anything on that last stretch of trail. Lo and behold, that’s when they came out. I hadn’t traveled 100 yards before six elk come bounding from the timber, three cow and three calves. The lead cow even stops in the trail in front of me for a couple seconds, not 10 yards away. Had I been in timber stalk mode with my bow loaded up and ready to go, I could have made the shot. Just goes to show you, never let your guard down no matter how close to camp you are. It would have been an awesome pack out. Live and learn.

I’m fairly new to elk hunting, as I’ve only been at it for about seven years or so and it’s all self-taught. Lots of Googling, listening to podcasts, talking to other hunters, and reading books. In all this time, I’ve only killed one elk, and that was the second year out. However, I’ve seen more elk this time around than I have all the other trips combined. I was able to get my first shot off with the bow on one, although it was a miss. Sometimes I feel like I have no clue what I’m doing and that I’m doing it all wrong. Other times, things work out just how they should (not counting actually harvesting the elk). I don’t know. I’m sure, like all other hunters out there, the desire for a successful harvest stems from a place of just wanting to show that you are capable of coming out into the wilderness, and out-smarting the timber ghosts. Every year that goes by unsuccessful, that desire grows, as does the frustration. However, it spurs me on to work harder than the year before. Plus, it always comes down to my differing levels of success. The first level is just getting out there. The second level of success is actually seeing the animal you’re after. The third level is getting a shot at it. The final level, of course, is harvesting the animal and filling the freezer with meat. This year, as far as archery elk goes, I hit the third level. We’ll see how my upcoming hunts for pronghorn, deer, and coming back at the elk for rifle go. In the meantime, get out there and do what you love!

Time for a little cross-promotion! I know a few of these authors and they are super talented. So if you like paranormal romance, you're going to want to check out this upcoming anthology. Here's a little bit about the anthology, and an excerpt from Traci Douglass's story, "Blood Strong!"

BORN TO LOVE WILD
A Paranormal Romance Short Story Anthology
Stars and Stone Books
 
Featuring: USA Today Bestselling Author Traci Douglass, Cara McKinnon, Sheri Queen, Pepper McGraw, M.T. DeSantis, Read Gallo, J. Bigelow, and Andie Biagini.
 
Pre-Order Now:
 
Kindle | iBooks | Kobo | Google Play
 
Traci Douglass – “Blood Strong: A Blood Ravagers Novella”
One guardian demon in love. One witch with a secret crush. One evil threatening their newfound connection.
 
Cara McKinnon - “A Change of Heart”
She’s a hybrid shifter who’s not supposed to exist. He’s a wolf who was born to protect her. But her secrets force him to choose: his mate, or his pack loyalty?
 
Sheri Queen - “The Robinson Agency”
Some are born with the gift to see into the future. Others create their own destiny.
 
Pepper McGraw – “Full Moon Shenanigans”
The full moon’s coming and it’s time to embrace the wildness within.
 
M.T. DeSantis - “Forever Love”
To find a chance… A chance to find…
 
Read Gallo – “The Flying Saltines”
When a river falls in love with an ordinary person will New York City survive?
 
J. Bigelow – “Focal Point”
Sometimes a wizard from Sweden needs help from a medium from Michigan.
 
Andie Biagini – “Water Temperature”
An engineering student and a cryptozoologist. One of them can talk to sea monsters, but it’s not who you think.
 
 
CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR AUTHORS
 
STARS AND STONE BOOKS: http://starsandstonebooks.com/
GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40582115-born-to-love-wild
FACEBOOK RELEASE PARTY: https://www.facebook.com/events/230760974194159/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/starsstonebooks
ANTHOLOGY WEBSITE: http://starsandstonebooks.com/born-to-love-wild
 
Excerpt from Traci Douglass’s Blood Strong: A Blood Ravager’s Novella
 
Emma Bradstreet checked her watch again. She hadn’t even finished parallel parking her car outside Seven yet when one of the Frost twins rushed over to her door. Thank God for the rainbow streaks in Liz’s hair, otherwise she’d never be able to tell her and Anna apart. Her frantic expression had Emma hurrying to cut the engine and exit the vehicle. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh, I’m so glad you’re here,” she gushed. “Anna said you would be the only one who could help.”

She grabbed Emma hand and yanked her toward the club, barely giving her time to grab her purse from the front seat. Liz dragged her inside and over to the bar where her husband, a wolf shifter named Dex, stood. The guy was tall, blonde, and far too intense for Emma’s comfort. Still his violet eyes were kind and he smiled at her warmly when she approached. Beside him stood Anna, Dante’s wife and Liz’s identical twin. Both girls were powerful psychics and together they formed the gang’s Oracle—a powerful conduit for psychic energy used to protect and bind the Blood Ravager members together. Dante, the gang’s leader, stood behind his wife with his arms around Anna’s waist, holding her possessively.

Emma stumbled forward through the crowded space, knocking into several scary looking guys and one turquoise alien who acted as the gang’s official healer.

She managed to stop short of taking a header over the bar and pulled free from Liz’s insistent grip. “What do you need from me?”

“We need you to break a tie,” Anna said. “Which of these colors suits my sister better? I said it was the blue, but she insists on the purple.”

Two swatches were held in front of Emma’s face. Honestly, she couldn’t see much difference in either of the pastel shades, but she leaned slightly to peer at Liz then looked back at the fabric just the same. “The purple, I guess.”

“Perfect!” Liz jumped forward and wrapped her arms around Emma, sticking her tongue out at her sister. “See? I told you so, Anna. Thanks so much, Em.”

“No problem.” Still confused as to why the color choice was important, Emma slowly backed away from the group, only to run smack up against a massive, muscled chest. A chest covered in a soft black T-shirt that smelled absolutely fabulous—like lavender and musk and clean warm male.

“Oh,” she said, raising her eyes to see Spud’s smiling face. “I’m so sorry.”

“No harm done, Emma,” he said, his voice deep and tinged with amusement. “No need to run away either.”

For a moment, she stood transfixed by his handsome, chiseled face and sexy smile. Emma blinked several times to break herself out of her embarrassing daze, swallowing hard against the tingles racing over her skin from his touch.

“I’m early,” she blurted out.

 Seriously? That’s the best you can do?

“That’s okay,” Spud said with a shrug. “We can go ahead and meet now, if you want.”

 “Uh, sure.” She fumbled after him toward the stairs, wishing the earth would just split open and devour her whole. Her cheeks felt so hot she was surprised the fire alarms didn’t go off. “Yeah, that’s great…thanks.”

“Sure.” He grabbed two bottles of water from the bartender then cocked his head toward the back door. “Actually, why don’t we start out back in the courtyard.”

Her breath hitched. In truth, she’d had a crush on Spud from the first moment she’d set foot in Salvation and he’d rescued her after she’d been stung by a bee. Luckily, she wasn’t allergic, but it had still hurt like hell. Her parents couldn’t have cared less, and to her sisters she was like a surrogate mom, so therefore indestructible. But Spud had treated the sting with gentle hands and given Emma a cool towel for her head and a cold drink to wash down the pain meds. He’d even dried her silly tears when she’d cried for one insane moment. In her fantasies, he’d see past her prim, proper exterior and notice her as a woman. In reality, that seemed like a tall order. Especially since he was giving her a slow, head-to-toe appraisal.

Goddess bless it, why didn’t I wear something cuter?

Another gang member pulled Spud aside, whispering and pointing toward a heated argument at the pool table near the front of the bar. Spud handed Emma the waters then raised a finger for her to wait before he took off to break up the fight before it could start.

Guardian demons got a bad reputation because of their formidable size and gruff exteriors. But she’d found Spud to be nothing but kind and generous and loyal to a fault. It still amazed her that he wasn’t mated yet. It also made her secretly happy, because if Spud was still available, Emma might have a chance.
The kerfuffle was broken up in less than ten minutes and Spud slowly made his way back to Emma, his easy swagger highlighting his broad torso and trim waist. His shoulder length brown hair caught the overhead lights and her fingertips itched to run through the silky strands. Through the curls, near his forehead, peeked two tiny horns. Even that she found that insanely attractive.  The only thing about she questioned was his name. She’d have to ask him about that.

Maybe once they got to know each other better.

Once he reached her, Spud flashed that sexy little smile, his warm gray eyes sparkling. “Sorry about that. You play pool?”

 Emma took a deep breath to quiet the zing of awareness through her bones. “Nah. Not really my thing.”

“Not mine either.”

They stood near the back exit in silence for several moments, watching the crowd while Emma tried to figure out what to say next.  The air around them pulsed with electricity and she couldn’t seem to stop fidgeting. She should say something intelligent and thoughtful and cute. Except words escaped her whenever Spud was around. So, instead, she leaned back against the wall beside the jukebox and stared out at the paranormal circus of creatures in front of them.

“Ready to go to the courtyard?” Spud pointed toward the exit with a water bottle.

“Yes!” she said, too quickly. “Please.”

“This way.” He grinned, pressing his palm against her lower back, ushering her through the door and down a short hall into the twilight. The whole time she kept repeating her mantra in her head to combat the buzz of being close to him. 

It’s just work. It’s just work.

Emma kept reminding herself not to go overboard, not to fall for a guy who was so out of her league it wasn’t even funny. With each step, however, she couldn’t seem to shake the feeling they were crossing a threshold, entering a new realm where she would get to see the real Spud, not the tough guy badass he portrayed to the world.

And deep inside, her witch instincts told Emma she wouldn’t be disappointed.
 
© 2018 Traci Douglass
 
 

 

​Went out for the first bit of elk scouting a couple weekends ago. I was able to go with my lovely wife which was great because I love spending time with her, plus this I the first year she’ll be able to actually have a chance at harvesting an animal. She finished up her Hunter’s Safety earlier in the year and we just picked her up a general season elk tag for rifle.
 
When we first got up there, it was raining and the temperature had dropped significantly, especially compared to the basin. Down in Vernal, it was almost 100 degrees, but up top with the storm going on, it was a chill 55 degrees. We had to wait for a break in the storm to put up camp, plus we had to fight the mosquitos. I don’t know if it was due to the rain or what, but they were everywhere, and they’d swarm you as soon as you stopped moving. I imagine that is what Alaska is like this time of year.
 
We got the camp set up, collected and processed some wood for the night’s fire (and the wood burning stove), then headed off to go get some scouting in before it got too dark. On the way up it looked like the Forest Service, or some mysterious Good Samaritan had finally cleaned up the trail. A lot of the fallen trees had been cut away and the path had been cleared. So that was nice.
 
We didn’t see much sign headed up that way, but I followed a game trail and found a big open meadow that I had no idea was there. It would be a good spot perhaps for rifle season.

​The next day we went up to a new spot I had found on the map. It looked promising. It was a small lake nestled in the horseshoe of some high cliffs at about 11,000 feet. We hit the road and started driving up there, and oh my god, the road was shite! Took about 45 min to crawl up a few miles to park at the spot that looked like a straight shot up to the lake. We started hiking and for whatever reason, I kept veering uphill and to the left, which eventually took us to a trail I didn’t know was there. At first, I thought the trail was a really crappy ATV road. About halfway there we crossed paths with about half a dozen folks hiking back down, carrying backpacks and fishing poles. I stopped and chatted with one dude and showed him where I was going and he told me they had just come down from there.
 
#sonofabitch
 
Up to that point, I hadn’t really seen much sign of elk at all. However, my wife and I decided to push on and see what the lake looked like anyway. I knew if I didn’t go up there, I’d always be wondering what was up that way. We pressed on and found more sign of people than we did of animals. It was okay though because we came across some beautiful scenery. However, there was one casualty from that jaunt—my wife’s boots. The soles of her boots completely disintegrated during that hike. She’d only wore those boots for about six months while she was deployed overseas and they couldn’t last four hours in the Uintah Mountains. That goes to show you what happens when you go with the lowest bidder for government contracts. 

Later that evening we hit another spot (after my wife changed her shoes of course). It was a spot I hunted the year prior and showed some promise. It wasn’t very far from the road, but we started seeing more elk sign than we had all trip. After a little ways in, I found a few piles of fresh(ish) scat nearby a water source, as well as an area that had about seven tree rubs all within ten yards of each other.
​
I don’t know if the hunt will pan out, but at least I have a better idea of what it’s looking like at the moment, and I can create my game plan. Hopefully, some of the sweat equity pays off and I can harvest an elk this year because let me tell you this, my freezer is looking sparse. 

​About a month ago I watched a movie called, Resolution. It was released in 2012 by directors Justin Benson (who also wrote the screenplay) and Aaron Moorhead. It starred Peter Cilella and Vinny Curran. In a nutshell, the movie is about a man who receives a videotape of his friend falling further and further down the vortex of drug abuse and decides to help him out. His idea of help is found in the form of traveling out to his buddy's house which is located in the middle of nowhere and handcuffing him to a pipe to make him quit drugs cold turkey. When he gets there, we find out that his friend didn't send him any videotape, and that's when things get strange. 
 

​I watched this movie because of the movie, The Endless, which debuted this year. The Endless looked like a crazy, cosmic horror that was right up my alley, and after a little research I found out Resolution was made by the same directors and was set in the same world. I am glad I watched Resolution, because, while The Endless isn't so much a sequel per se, it is connected, and there are things that happen in both movies that could be confusing if you don't watch both. They complement each other well, and I highly recommend watching both if you like strange horror stories.
 
Word of warning though, if you are the type that needs all the questions answered in a movie, then you best pass on this one. Even after watching both of them there were still questions. 
 
Where these movies excel, is with the uncanny cosmic horror. With Resolution, it's merely hinted at, but The Endless takes that idea, sets it on fire, and runs it down the road parading it like the Olympic torch. 
 
Here's what worked with Resolution: the acting and strange goings-on work on a level that spoke to me. I like my horror weird, creepy, and head-scratchy for the most part, and this movie hits those marks. It was weird, in a good way, with some genuinely creepy moments.
 
Where it begins to fail (although after watching both movies, the failures are actually successes; however, I realize that someone shouldn't have to watch both movies to fully understand something...movies, like books, need to stand on their own two feet) is with the randomness of the weird things happening. It got to the point where I thought that perhaps the writers and directors just compiled as much weird shit as possible and ran with that idea without fully realizing where the destination would be. The ending is strange and left me with more questions than answers.
 
Now, let's circle over to The Endless. There is a scene in Resolution where the protagonist comes across members of a UFO death cult. It's a very short interaction, but one that has bigger impacts with The Endless. Two of the people he met in that interaction are the main protagonists in The Endless. They play as brothers who left the death cult. They receive a strange video of the other members welcoming them back, and long story short, they decide to go back for one day. 

​Much like Resolution, strange things begin to happen once they arrive. The cultists are creepy, but not in the fact that they are psychopaths, but more in the fact that they almost appear normal. They have a couple of outliers in the group, but for the most part, fairly down-to-earth (pun intended).
 
As I mentioned before, where Resolution left you with the idea of cosmic horror, The Endless solidifies it. There's something out in the woods (which isn't a spoiler) that the cultists are worshiping. When the lead cult member is asked by one of the of the brothers, he responds with this (paraphrasing here), "it's something different for everybody. If you want to know what it is, then go find out for yourself." I really liked that notion. 
 
The movie also had a mix of moments. There were a couple of genuine comedic (albeit, dark comedy) moments that stuck out. I won't spoil it here, but one of my favorites was when they gave one of the characters a gun that had been requested. Mixed with that, were some terrifying moments...again, no spoilers, but the tent scene was particularly disturbing, especially when you realize what's going on, and what that character inside the tent is having to live through.
 
On a subtler level, there is an aspect of horror with seeing a difference in reality. The older brother realized that staying with the cult would mean their potential death, which is why he took his younger brother and left so long back. The younger brother only remembered the good things about the cult, and when faced with his not-so-great present quality of life, he wanted to go back. The movie was great with showing the conflict between these two and the decisions they must face as the story pushed forward. 
 
There were a couple of plot holes and head shakes, but for the most part, The Endless was solid. The acting was good, the story was great, and the atmosphere was amazing. I found the ending somewhat ambiguous. I took it one way while my wife saw it differently. It kind of ties back into the quote of, it’s something different for everybody. It touched on all the key points of cosmic horror for me and left me wanting another movie by these two directors. Overall, a great addition to the cosmic horror movies out there, and I consider it a must see if you like horror movies that have a weirdness to them.
 

I saw this hit video on demand a few months back, but I never got around to watching it. It finally came on Amazon Prime so I gave it a try. The Blackwell Ghost is a "documentary" about a independent filmmaker who takes on a project to find out if ghosts are real or not. It's marketed as a real documentary; however, I have my doubts on things. Real or not, it was still entertaining and pretty creepy. Here's the trailer.

The documentary follows a man who says he used to film zombie films but wanted a change of pace. He comes across a YouTube clip of a ghost walking out of a hotel room and decides he wants to look into hauntings. Here is the clip of the ghost coming out of the hotel room. 

He tries to look into that but gets contacted by a guy who claims to live in a haunted house. The dude flies out there to meet the guy who owns the house and we get a bit of backstory on the residence. Basically, legend has it that back in the day the woman who lived there was a little crazy and kidnapped kids, chopped them up, and threw them down a well that was located in the cellar. The guy goes on to say that he experiences supernatural phenomenon almost every day in the way of noises, things moving, and other common haunting stuff. 

Later on, the filmmaker is invited by the owner to come back and spend a few nights in the house while he's away on vacation. The filmmaker takes the man up on his offer and craziness ensues. 

There aren't really any jump scares in this movie/documentary, but where it works is the slow build of tension that is executed in a practical way at the end that still manages to get under your skin. I question the authenticity of the documentary aspect, as some things happen in this that seem a little to coincidental and done for entertainment; however, it didn't detract from the experience. If you like quiet, slow building, ghost stories, check it out. It was only an hour well worth the time.

I finally was able to get out and see the movie, Hereditary, and oh my lord, what a weird and creepy movie. It is unsettling on many levels, and kind of sticks with you after you've seen it for a bit. First off, the trailer didn't do the movie any justice; however, after seeing the flick, I'm not sure how you can effectively cut a trailer for this movie. I'm going to tackle some non-spoilery stuff first, then we'll get into the meat and potatoes of this show.

First, let's talk about the story. On the surface, it's about a family dealing with the death of a mother/grandmother. Digging deeper and peeling away the layers, it's about so much more. This movie is about loss. Loss of family, loss of sanity, and loss of self. 

I have to give some major kudos to actor Toni Collette, she knocked this one out of the park. She shows a wide range of emotion and kept this story moving. Another big shout out to Molly Shapiro who played the daughter to Toni Collette. I think she portrayed having mental issues very well. The trailer made it seem like this movie was going to be about her, and in a way it was. But, as I mentioned before, the trailer is misleading.

Overall, this movie excelled in its creep factor. The way the angles were shot, the music, and the use of light (or lack thereof) all came together and made for some shots that actually sent chills through my body. There were some specific scenes too (which I'll get into in the spoiler section) that stuck with me  after the credits rolled. 

The movie starts out slow, but once it starts moving, it doesn't stop. ​One thing that I enjoyed, was the unreliable POV of Toni Collette's character. She suffers from some issues where you have to question if what she is seeing is real or not. It made me question everything she saw and that was great. I love movies that leave things up to the interpretation of the viewer. 

As for some of the cons of the movie, there are a few things that happen make me question the actions of the main characters...one of those things where they act a certain way and you just roll your eyes. It wasn't anything crazy, but enough to make me raise an eyebrow.

Another issue of the movie is some of it doesn't make sense. I'll get into it a bit in my spoiler section. Overall, these things didn't detract from the experience and if you're into weird, creepy things, then go watch the movie. It's hard to compare it to anything, but the closest thing I can think of is maybe The Witch. They play on the theme of isolation, strange things going on, and overall creepiness. Plus, Utah connection! The movie was filmed in Park City and Salt Lake City. I thought it was looking familiar while I was watching it, then I saw a Utah plate on a vehicle in a scene. 

​Anyway...on to the spoilers!  

Let's get into the spoilers. The trailer sets this movie up to be some sort of supernatural little girl scary movie, and I suppose on some level, yes, that is part of this movie. However, I almost thought this would take a turn much like The Omen or maybe Firestarter where the little girl was going to be the main character of this show and the family was going to be dealing with her powers. But HOLY SHIT, 1/3 of the way into this movie she gets taken out in a gruesome accident that takes her head off. So if you're sensitive to kids dying, don't see this movie. They end up showing her head later on the side of the road all decomposing and covered with ants.

All of sudden this movie took a turn and it started getting even weirder. There were some traditional witchcraft overtones early on that I saw that reminded me of the maiden, mother, and crone. The paganism angle gets heavier and heavier until it comes to an end. You come to find out that the grandmother was part of a coven that was trying summon Paimon who is a duke of hell or a king or hell depending on what source read.

I loved how they weaved mental disorders into actual paranormal happenings. At one point Toni Collette explains to a support group that her mother was crazy and that she had mental issues. She mention that her brother killed himself and blamed the mother stating that she put voices in his head. After seeing the show, we can see that she was trying to plant an evil demon into him. It makes me wonder if her issues stemmed from the same source, or if she actually had some issues. 

Here are some questions I have about the movie that perhaps someone smarter than me can answer. First, was Charlie really Paimon (a duke of hell that the grandmother was trying to summon and that the coven finally successfully summoned)? I don't quite understand how her spirit was connected to the whole thing.

Second, how do you not know that there is a dead body in your attic? That shit would start to stink something bad I would imagine. They make some cursory comment about it during the movie, but come on...I think it would be worse then that. 

Third, the family witnesses some strange seance go down and the next day they just move on like nothing happened. I mean, if I saw things go flying off the table, flames shooting out of candles, and my mom speaking in tongues, I don't know what I would do, but going on about my business like nothing at all was out of the ordinary would not be it.

Anyway, the scene when Toni Collette crawls up the wall and is banging her head against the crawlspace door was creepy as hell. Then when she's cutting her own head off with a wire...oh man, chills. Any time they showed a spirit in the darkness was very well done, especially the scene with the head and the ball (if you've seen it, you'll know what I'm talking about). 

Well worth a watch if you're into creepy stories. I highly recommend it.