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Author: Sue Granquist

Goth Chick News: Just in Time for Mardi Gras: The LaLaurie Mansion Series

Goth Chick News: Just in Time for Mardi Gras: The LaLaurie Mansion Series

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An illustration of the fire at the LaLaurie mansion

As you all know, I fancy myself somewhat of a connoisseur of the paranormal. Over the years I’ve told you about some personal experiences (both real and imagined), some that others have experienced, and a few that are little more than unsubstantiated folk tales. But every once in a while, there comes a time and place where something so disturbing has occurred that the stories of hauntings associated with it morph into anecdotes that even a hardened skeptic could make room for.

Such is the LaLaurie Mansion located in New Orleans’ French Quarter which ranks near the very top of the “give me nightmares” scale.

If you haven’t heard of Marie Delphine LaLaurie, she was a New Orleans socialite who built a two-story mansion at 1140 Royal Street upon the event of her third marriage in 1825, to physician Leonard Louis Nicolas LaLaurie. Long before this, NOLA was a unique place, not the least of which due to its Code Noir, or laws governing the treatment of slaves. Unlike the rest of the south there was at least the expectation in NOLA, that slave owners would treat their slaves well, and NOLA had the largest population of free people of color of any major southern city.

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Goth Chick News: Hendrix Does It Again with The Final Girl Support Group

Goth Chick News: Hendrix Does It Again with The Final Girl Support Group

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Final Girls

Back in 1992, medieval history researcher Carol J. Clover wrote Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Fascinated by film as just another iteration of the ancient art of oral storytelling, she theorized that horror fans are not closet sadists who relate to the violence and terror of the films. Instead, Clover argued the reverse: that horror films are designed to align spectators not with the (most often) male tormentor, but with the tormented female’s suffering, pain, and anguish. The “final girl,” as Clover calls the victim-hero, endures before finally rising up to vanquish her oppressor, with horror fans cheering her on.

Enter one of my favorite authors Grady Hendrix and his upcoming new novel The Final Girl Support Group. If you’re trying to place the name you’ve definitely read about him before, here at GCN, when I talked about his previous releases, Paperbacks from Hell, My Best Friend’s Exorcism and Horrorstör, to name a few. As he often does, Hendrix recognized a trend, as horror franchises went back to visit their “final girls” with characters such as Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) in the latest Halloween installment, and Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) in Scream. When you think about it, nearly ever horror movie has a version of a “final girl,” and Hendrix decided to tell us a story about what happened to them “after.”

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Goth Chick News: The Stoker Awards Are Back, And I Need One

Goth Chick News: The Stoker Awards Are Back, And I Need One

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Gather round friends – as we’re all still stuck at home, we can at least take consolation in the idea that writers all over the world continue to have plenty of time to create stories with which to entertain us. And as always, the end of January gifts us with the most awesome reading/watching list of the year: the annual preliminary ballot list for the coolest award ever.

The Bram Stoker Awards have been presented annually since 1987, and the winners are selected by ballot from the active members of the Horror Writers Association (HWA). Several members of the HWA, including Dean Koontz, were originally reluctant to endorse such writing awards, fearing it would incite competitiveness rather than friendly admiration. The HWA therefore went to great lengths to avoid mean-spirited competition by specifically seeking out new or overlooked writers and works, and officially issuing awards not based on “best of the year” criteria but for “superior achievement,” which allows for ties.

Which is lovely and all, but I believe I would not be above doing something mean-spirited — if not downright evil — to get my hands on the award itself; a haunted house whose front door opens to reveal the category and winner.

This week the HWA announced the preliminary ballot for the 2020 Bram Stoker Awards. And whatever you do, do not call these folks nominees (yet). Only works that appear on the Stoker Award’s “Final Ballot,” to be formally announced on February 23, may be called nominees.

Therefore, the preliminary ballot achievers are…

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Goth Chick News Presents: “Tots:” A Wonderfully Uncomfortable Short Story by Peter Schneider

Goth Chick News Presents: “Tots:” A Wonderfully Uncomfortable Short Story by Peter Schneider

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Flights, edited by Al Sarrantonio (Roc, 2004). Cover by Steve Stone

In December I told you about my magical meeting with Peter Schneider, author and owner of boutique publisher Hill House Press. During the course of one of our many conversations since, Peter let me know he had written a short story called “Tots,” which he thought I would like. It had originally appeared in a 2004 collection called Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy edited by horror and science fiction writer Al Sarrantonio. In the introduction for “Tots,” Sarrantonio states that Peter’s sense of humor is reminiscent of National Lampoon. When Peter sent me a copy of original manuscript of “Tots,” I absolutely agreed. I’ll also add that it’s just the right amount of wrong and knew I had to share it with you.

So, reprinted here with Peter’s permission, I am excited to share…

TOTS

By Peter Schneider

It is 2:45 a.m., in the parking lot of one of the massive superstore shopping centers that have sprung up like a series of mushrooms across the country.  But the action at this time of the morning isn’t in the Barnes & Noble or Home Depot–it’s in an isolated corner of the lot, surround on two sides by security fencing and hemmed in on the remaining sides by a variety of vehicles, circled like wagons and facing inward with their headlights shining.  The halogen illumination reveals a ring, roughly twelve feet in diameter, crudely outlined on the pavement with a can of purple spray paint.  Outside the circle perhaps fifty or sixty people, mostly men but including a smattering of well-dressed women, stand and watch.  Money changes hands here–big money.  But their attention right now is on the two combatants standing within the ring, long and deadly sickle-like blades strapped securely to their right arms.  One fighter takes a tentative step in the direction of his foe and raises his hand in preparation to strike.  He’ll have to get in closer, however–his four-year-old arms aren’t long enough to deliver a killing blow from such a distance.

This is the world of totfighting.

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Goth Chick News Reviews: The Room VR: A Dark Matter by Fireproof Games

Goth Chick News Reviews: The Room VR: A Dark Matter by Fireproof Games

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A couple years back I did something I have always wanted to do: commission an ultimate gaming computer. As I work in the industry, I only had to ask a couple of my team members if they were interested in building a “sky’s the limit” device. A month and several written checks later, I had a computer I was sure could hack NASA, containing a liquid-cooled, AMD Ryzen 1800x 8-core processor, an MSI AX370 motherboard, an AMD Vega 64 8GB video card, and 11TB of storage. I named it “Winston” and my designers lit it from the inside with a red pulse light that looks like a heartbeat.

When it was delivered, I felt like Victor Frankenstein, screaming “It’s aliiiiiivvvee!”

So, what’s the point? I had my heart set on an HTC Vive virtual reality gaming system and I did not want the word “latency” to ever cross my lips. It took quite an engine to power the first generation Vive, so though I mostly wanted computer bragging rights around the Black Gate offices, I also wanted to turn my home office into my own personal holo-deck. And that’s what I did.

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Goth Chick News: In 2021, The “Stakes” Get Higher…

Goth Chick News: In 2021, The “Stakes” Get Higher…

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No surprise, I absolutely love a good vampire story. And though I’ve had a bit of an up and down relationship with Stephen King over the years, one of the “up” periods involved his book Salem’s Lot. During the year-end holidays I reread it, followed by a revisiting of the 1979 TV miniseries starring David Soul and directed by Tobe Hooper. Though it had its moments, not the least of which being the vampires themselves, I’ve always felt a little “meh” about this rendition as compared to its literary source material. The “meh” goes double for that hot mess on TNT starring Rob Lowe in 2004. This is also no surprise, as a King novel successfully translated to the screen of any size is a rare thing indeed.

Still, hope springs eternal in these matters, as shown by Carrie and The Shining, so when The Hollywood Reporter said director Gary Dauberman had signed up to bring Salem’s Lot to the big-screen, my interest was piqued.

Why? It’s not just due to Dauberman’s horror-chops, but the fact that he is also signed on to write the interpretation. To me it seems that whenever King gets involved as the screen writer, to ensure his stories are told his way, a train wreck ensues. The most recent case in point was Doctor Sleep, King’s sequel to The Shining which I enjoyed so much I’ve read it twice. But hating Stanley Kubrick’s take on his original installment, King insisted on writing the script for Doctor Sleep himself, resulting in such a disappointing theatrical interpretation that I nearly primal screamed on the way out of the theater.

Raw fish does not belong on a pizza, and Stephen King should not write movie scripts – it’s that simple.

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Goth Chick News: Christmas Spirits

Goth Chick News: Christmas Spirits

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As I enter the last leg of my doctoral studies, I couldn’t help taking advantage of my university’s very impressive library to take a bit of an intellectual detour. I did a search on the origins of modern-day Christmas traditions. Not unsurprisingly our current celebrations owe most to pagan winter festivals, and the rest to mid-19th century England; either way, very little has changed.

And because you’re here at Goth Chick News, you’ve got to know that I zeroed in on the association between Christmas and ghost stories. That particular practice, as it appears in American celebrations, is actually a Victorian tradition which was as much a part of Christmas to them, as Santa Claus is to us.

“Whenever five or six English-speaking people meet round a fire on Christmas Eve, they start telling each other ghost stories,” wrote British humorist Jerome K. Jerome as part of his introduction to an anthology of Christmas ghost stories titled Told After Supper in 1891. “Nothing satisfies us on Christmas Eve but to hear each other tell authentic anecdotes about specters.”

The most obvious example of a Victorian holiday ghost story is Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, which has become such a ubiquitous part of the season that most people don’t even wonder why Dickens chose ghosts to bring about Ebenezer Scrooge’s transformation. So, what is it about Christmas and ghosts that go so well together?

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Goth Chick News: More True Blood? Yes Please

Goth Chick News: More True Blood? Yes Please

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The original HBO series True Blood remains one of my favorites, even through its first episode aired way back in 2008. The show was based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries novels by Charlaine Harris, which also have a special place in my heart. Harris was my very first Black Gate interview in 2003 when she came through Chicago promoting the third book in what would ultimately be thirteen. Right around that same time, director Allan Ball got stuck in an airport due to a cancelled flight and picked up book three to pass the time. Ball was just coming off another HBO success, Six Feet Under, and fell in love with Harris’ characters, thus True Blood was eventually born.

If you’re unfamiliar, both the books and the series take place in Louisiana, at a time in the not-too-distant future where vampires have “come out of the coffin” due to the invention of synthetic blood. The story follows the adventures of telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse who falls in love with a vampire, then encounters werewolves, fairies, witches and more as the story progresses.

True Blood was very sexy, sometimes violent and occasionally corny, making it an addictive combination. It also made Anna Paquin, Alexander Skarsgård, Joe Manganiello, and Stephen Moyer household names. If you have never seen True Blood and don’t think you have the patience to wade through all seven seasons, which are still available on HBO or for rent, at least try Season One. Of all of them, the first is pretty much a complete story in itself. At the time, Ball had no idea if the series would get resigned, so though Season Two storyline appears in the final moments of the last episode, Season One still stands on its own.

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Goth Chick News: Ray Bradbury’s “The Wish” Brings New Magic to the Holidays

Goth Chick News: Ray Bradbury’s “The Wish” Brings New Magic to the Holidays

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Just about a year ago I finally got around to writing about my first encounter with Ray Bradbury and his story “The Wish.” It isn’t one of his most famous or well known, but when it appeared in the December issue of Woman’s Day magazine in 1973, it touched my 9-year-old self in a deeply personal way. Following its appearance in Woman’s Day, “The Wish” only appeared twice more; once in a compilation called Long After Midnight, which I discovered in my subsequent youthful pursuit of all things Bradbury, and once in a format I only just discovered.

Here is where the magic comes in…

Back in October I received an unusual voicemail on my “day job” phone. The gentleman introduced himself and asked if I was the Sue Granquist who writes for Black Gate. If so, he had something for me. If not, he apologized for bothering me and then left his number for me to call. What was exceptionally strange about this is that I don’t even know my office phone number, not to mention my very strict policy of separation of church and state – no one at the day job knows about my gig at Black Gate.

So how, exactly, did this gentleman track me down there?

With curiosity killing me I rang the number back and met Peter Schneider, former Vice President at Viking Penguin, William Morrow, Prentice Hall and Grove Press; translate that to mean a titan in the publishing world. Now retired, Mr. Schneider’s last gig was as owner of a boutique publishing firm called Hill House Press. He explained that he was the publisher for and personal friend of Ray Bradbury in the ten years before Bradbury’s death in 2012. During that time, he convinced Bradbury to let him publish a limited-edition hard cover book of The Wish; limited as in fifty-two copies were made, each containing an actual photo of Bradbury’s father and a short note about the origins of the tale from Bradbury himself. Mr. Schneider explained that he had copy number 8 in his possession which he found when cleaning out the attic. That made him wonder when the story had first appeared in public so he Googled “The Wish” and what was the first listing that came up?

The article I had written about it, which appeared in Black Gate last December.

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Goth Chick News Guest Review: Revisiting My Bloody Valentine

Goth Chick News Guest Review: Revisiting My Bloody Valentine

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With “the season” officially over for 2020, the stores seem to have given Thanksgiving a miss and moved directly to reminding us it’s time to make this the most expensive Christmas ever. I therefore determined it was a fair cop to give the whole thing a pass and move directly on to Valentine’s Day. And it seemed only right to invite Goth Chick News guest writer Scott E to comment on his favorite film, while I slacked off in a carb-coma.

Take it away Scott.

The 2009 Lionsgate sequel to the 1981 classic horror film, My Bloody Valentine, was cleverly written by Todd Farmer and Zane Smith, and directed by Patrick Lussier. Jensen Ackles, Tom Adkins, Kerr Smith, Betsy Rue, Jamie King, Megan Boone and Kevin Tighe round out the talented cast. This film is one of my favorites because the flow of the scenes pulled me in from the get go, and the special effects were creative and gorier than expected. Jensen Ackles (Supernatural) plays the son of original slasher Richard John Walters (24) who returns to his hometown on the tenth anniversary of the Valentine’s night massacre that claimed the lives of 22 people.

If you’re unfamiliar with the original 1981 storyline it, like the 2009 version, takes place in a mining town, enabling several of the most terrifying scenes to be darkly claustrophobic. Apparently Lionsgate wasn’t all that keen on a sequel , but Lussier convinced the executives the 3D effects would pay off at the box office. Studio legend has it that Lionsgate brass viewed a rough cut of the 3D version and screamed like little girls, ensuring the studio’s full backing.

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