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Author: Sue Granquist

Goth Chick News: Doctor Sleep or Back to the Overlook Hotel

Goth Chick News: Doctor Sleep or Back to the Overlook Hotel

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Doctor SleepI honestly never thought I would ever again gush about a Stephen King novel, but here I am.

You see, I’ve been disillusioned for some time – as in ever since The Stand. And before I start seeing dozens of posts about how great the Dark Tower series is, or Under the Dome for that matter, to me King is and always will be the teller of horror tales. And frankly, he hasn’t really scared me since IT.

Or maybe Pet Cemetery.

Honestly, I felt King had lost his horror mojo – or had it forcibly extracted during the conception of his son Joe Hill, who tears up the NYC Best Seller list every time he puts pen to paper.

But back in September 2011, as King was receiving an award at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, he talked a little bit about the latest novel he was working on, Doctor Sleep – a sequel to his 1977 blockbuster hit The Shining.

This is an idea that I’ve had for some time. I wrote a novel in the ’70s called The Shining… I always wondered what happened to that kid, Danny Torrance, when he grew up… and this story started to form. The book isn’t finished yet, it’s called Doctor Sleep. This kinda goes back to: what’s the worst thing you can think of? I knew that there were bad people in this story that were like vampires, only that what they sucked out was not blood, but psychic energy from special people like Danny Torrance. And I came to realize that these people were called The Tribe and that they move around a lot.

I was skeptical then and remained so all the way up until September 24th, when my copy of Doctor Sleep finally arrived.

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Goth Chick News: Kick Starting a Live Horror Show

Goth Chick News: Kick Starting a Live Horror Show

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image002Crowdsourcing, microcrediting, and clickworking have all become buzz words in mainstream corporate America in recent years, but I honestly did not imagine I would use “kickstart” and “live horror show” in the same sentence.

Ever.

And yet here we are, in a place even Dr. Frankenstein couldn’t have anticipated.

After seventeen studio albums, including three horror movie scores and a motion picture of their own, Gothic Halloween Horror music composers and my personal fan girl crushes, Midnight Syndicate have launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a multimedia concert extravaganza.

And what is a “Kickstarter campaign” you ask?

As has been mentioned here once or twice, Kickstarter is the world’s largest crowdfunding platform. The company’s mission is to help bring creative projects to life and since its launch, nearly 5 million people have funded more than 50,000 creative projects such as films, music, stage shows, comics, journalism, and video games.

People who back Kickstarter projects are offered tangible rewards and one-of-kind experiences in exchange for their pledges and Midnight Syndicate is offering some serious bootie in exchange for your bucks (want to be the show’s Executive Producer for instance?)

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Goth Chick News: Gaining Residency in Fear City

Goth Chick News: Gaining Residency in Fear City

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image008Have you ever become a fan of something in its earliest days and watched as it got better and better over time, until you were congratulating yourself at seeing the early greatness before everyone else caught on?

Or maybe that’s just me.

Usually it’s authors or film makers I have the pleasure of meeting on their freshman outings, and you can just tell that if you keep an eye on some them, things are going to get even more amazing as they further hone their craft.

In this particular case, it’s a hybrid of all the pop culture creativity that has been so much fun to follow.

Creating a haunted attraction from the ground up takes all the effort you can imagine — doubled. There’s the space, the permits, the theme, the detailed sets – costumes, makeup, actors, and promotion. Basically, all the components (and expense) of a stage production or an indy film with the additional elements of crowd control and liability insurance.

Fear City just kicked off its third season with a “Bloody Red Carpet” event on October 4th and its evolution has been a scream to watch.

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Goth Chick News: For Your Enjoyment — Scaring the Snot Out of People

Goth Chick News: For Your Enjoyment — Scaring the Snot Out of People

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Nightmares Fear Factory2If you have a younger sibling, a twitchy girlfriend, or a pal susceptible to suggestion, then you’ve probably done it.

If you’ve ever been to camp, driven to some deserted location with a local legend attached to it, or offered to walk through first in a haunted house line up, then you’ve most definitely done it.

At some point in your life, you’ve gotten perverse pleasure from scaring the life out of another human being.

Admittedly, I think I’ve lost a few friends over it in my case. This is due to my complete lack of empathy with the victim ,which manifests in my laughing so hard I nearly have a seizure.

Totally unfair and coming in around the fourth-grade level of humor to be sure, but I just can’t help myself.

And neither can you – admit it.

My greatest joy this time of year comes from positioning myself in the standard group of six to walk through some haunted attraction, with at least two random pre-teen girls.

More is better.

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Goth Chick News: A Naked Haunted House – Or One More Thing We Don’t Need to See

Goth Chick News: A Naked Haunted House – Or One More Thing We Don’t Need to See

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image002“You can do that one without me. No way.”

“Come on, it’s all just theater. You’re not really going to die.”

“Nope, not happening.”

“Think of what a great write up it will make.”

“Write it up then. I can’t bring my camera in there anyway.”

Black Gate photographer Chris Z and I are debating whether or not he will accompany me to the traveling version of the extreme haunted attraction, Blackout Elements when it rolls through Chicago later this year.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with this experience, the annual version of Blackout that pops up in a different LA or NYC location every October has been compared to a voluntary prison assault that you actually pay fifty, non-refundable, dollars to have inflicted on you.

Let’s face it. An experience that requires you to sign a six-page disclaimer and memorize a safety word is not your neighborhood Jaycee’s “haunted house.” And for someone who has been through about a bazillion October attractions, this one sounded like something I really needed to do.

But apparently I was doing it without Chris Z.

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Goth Chick News: New Indy Horror — Skinwalker Ranch

Goth Chick News: New Indy Horror — Skinwalker Ranch

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image002I’m not saying the world is over the whole handheld camera, first person horror thing.

I mean, as long as Paranormal Activity 4 can take a $5M production budget and turn it into $54M in box office receipts, we will continue to be treated to a format that was once a novelty, but now needs to be really impressive to get serious audience attention.

Or attention at least.

Skinwalker Ranch may or may not fit the bill.

The premise is solid enough. Skinwalker Ranch, also known as Sherman Ranch, is a property located on approximately 480 acres southeast of Ballard, Utah, that is allegedly the site of paranormal and UFO-related activities. Its name is taken from the “skin-walker” of Native American legend.

And yes, it is a real place.

Claims about the ranch first appeared in the Salt Lake City, Utah Desret News back in 2006 and later in the alternative weekly Las Vegas Mercury as a series of articles by journalist George Knapp. Knapp and co-author Colm Kelleher subsequently authored a book, Hunt for the Skinwalker, in which they describe the ranch being acquired by the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDSci) to study anecdotal sightings of UFOs, bigfoot-like creatures, crop circles, glowing orbs, and poltergeist activity reported by the former owners of Sherman Ranch.

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Goth Chick News: Music for Seducing Your (Dead or Partially Dead) Date

Goth Chick News: Music for Seducing Your (Dead or Partially Dead) Date

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image002I have no explanation for why a fairly cheesy Bride of Frankenstein remake from 1985 popped into my head while listening to this, but it did.

There I was in my headphones, taking in what can only be described as seductively creepy orchestrations, when suddenly Sting appeared in my subconscious, leaning over his “monster” in the form of a dewy-eyed Jennifer Beals.

Maybe this is normal when you finally eat red meat after a long hiatus…

Perhaps I’d better back up and explain.

In celebration of the upcoming “season,” musician Ken Elkinson had sent over a copy of his new release, Halloween Ambient, and I was giving it a listen prior to approving it for play over the sound system in the Black Gate offices.

The last time I allowed my seasonal music to be played without previewing it first, Howard Andrew Jones and John O’Neill were moved to go shirtless, don fake fangs and red contact lenses, and hang around the interns’ canteen asking everyone’s blood type. After that incident, I promised the Black Gate lawyers there would be no further public playing of music which had the potential of inciting poor staff behavior.

Halloween Ambient was definitely not getting played.

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Goth Chick News: New (Creepy) Fiction – A Cold Season

Goth Chick News: New (Creepy) Fiction – A Cold Season

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A Cold Season-smallPersonally, I find discovering a new voice in the horror fiction space is like Christmas in July – or in this case, Halloween in September. And the warm, gooey candy corn is all the sweeter when that scary new voice is a woman’s.

So it was with particular relish that I unwrapped an early copy of A Cold Season by British newcomer Alison Littlewood. Littlewood has been a literary presence for some time, with short stories selected for The Best Horror of the Year and Mammoth Book of Best New Horror anthologies, as well as The Best British Fantasy 2013, but A Cold Season is her freshman novel and it has already received a very favorable welcome across the pond.

Littlewood tells us the story of the newly widowed Cass and her son Ben as they attempt to escape their grief by moving to the highlands of Darnshaw: a picture-perfect village from Cass’ youth that is not, of course, what it seems. As the snow covers the moors, Ben grows increasingly hostile and a series of strange occurrences begin to disturb Cass. Soon, the two are completely isolated from the outside world by the weather and Cass is forced to confront Darnshaw’s dark secrets, marooned in a sea of snow and with terrifying results.

I applaud Littlewood, who excels at driving home a feeling of discomfort, whether in subtle and early hints at the paranormal or in mundane things such as a lack of Internet access. Creaks and bumps in the semi-isolated apartment building Cass finds herself in are handled as masterfully as the lingering, deceitful, and unnerving sneers from the locals.

And while I do not regret the hours I spent with A Cold Season, it has some of the typical stumbles of a first novel. Cass becomes isolated almost from the start, when the snow comes and cuts off the village even before she and her son are settled. The villagers are immediately odd and Ben begins to act hostile as soon as he returns home from his first day at school.

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Goth Chick News: New Indy Horror 36 Saints and Interview with Star Frank Gonzalez — Plus Free Swag

Goth Chick News: New Indy Horror 36 Saints and Interview with Star Frank Gonzalez — Plus Free Swag

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image002As always, this year’s Chicago Comic Con had no shortage of material and believe me, it was difficult to know where to look first. But the best discovery is when I meet up with the creators of indy films – twice as nice when the films are in my favorite genre.

Indy film folks are hungry and passionate without all the Hollywood jadedness that eventually comes with one or two big box office hits. They put love into every detail of their creations and their enthusiasm is infectious, so I was particularly excited to meet Joey Dedio; actor and producer of the soon-to-be-released horror thriller 36 Saints.

As he explains the premise, you can tell Dedio is psyched about every aspect of this film and his excitement is palpable.

According to the kabbalah teaching, at any given time there are at least 36 holy persons in the world. These holy people are hidden; nobody knows who they are and they themselves are not aware of their role. For the sake of these 36 hidden saints, God preserves the world even if the rest of humanity has degenerated to the level of total barbarism.

36 Saints is like if the movie Seven met The Da Vinci Code. New York’s Police Headquarters is confronted with the horror of a serial murderer whose targets appear to be group of students. Weaving myth, legend and Biblical stories together, this film is filled with suspense while officials try to find the killer before it is too late and more people are killed.

As enthusiastic as Dedio is about the film, he’s clearly thrilled with one of the film’s stars, Frank Gonzales (aka “Franky G”). So when it came time to find out more about 36 Saints, Dedio deferred to Gonzales, which was fine with me considering Gonzales’s horror cred was pretty substantial.

So everyone, meet Franky G – Franky G, this is everyone.

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Goth Chick News: Surviving the Dying Light

Goth Chick News: Surviving the Dying Light

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image002I absolutely love shooting dead things.

Nothing takes the edge off a stressful day like arming up to the teeth on my PS3 and blasting the snot out of rampaging zombies or other marauding creatures of darkness.

Not that I have anything against creatures of darkness – no siree. I mean, at this point, some three years into writing Goth Chick News, the reanimated dead are not only some of my most prolific subjects, but often constitute the bulk of my party guests.

It’s just that “real” violence, or in this case realistic violence (i.e. Saints Row and Hitman), makes me queasy in a way that offing the undead does not. So I was as giddy as Rick Grimes at a Home Depot axe sale when I found out about Dying Light.

Dying Light is a first-person, action survival horror game set in a vast and dangerous open world. During the day, players traverse an expansive urban environment overrun by a vicious outbreak, scavenging the world for supplies and crafting weapons to defend against the growing infected population. At night, the hunter becomes the hunted, as the infected become aggressive and more dangerous. Most frightening are the predators which only appear after sundown. Players must use everything in their power to survive until the morning’s first light.

Developed by Techland for Warner Brothers Entertainment (the geniuses who brought you Dead Island), Dying Light will be available in PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC formats, which is part of what I love about these guys. Development of solid games for the PC is dwindling, but until the PlayStation can fit with me in a coach airline seat, I appreciate anyone who creates this sort of fun for my lap top.

Now, join me in relishing the 12-minute gameplay walk through. It rocks utterly.

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