It's Women In Horror Month Let's Honor Them!

Let's face it, we owe them a huge debt not just the women writers of horror but the actresses too.

On the literary front Mrs. Radcliffe is considered to have begun the gothic genre. She wrote: The Mysteries of Udolpho, The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne, Gaston de Blondeville, The Italian, The Romance of the Forest and A Sicilian Romance.

Continuing onward would be the teen-aged Mary Wollstonecroft (soon to be Mary Shelley) writing the masterpiece, Frankenstein. This novel, to my mind, is the real starting point of the entire horror genre.

In more recent times: Shirley Jackson (The Haunting of Hill House) Susan Hill (The Woman in Black) Angela Carter (The Bloody Chamber) Anne Rice (The Vampire Chronicles, Lives of the Mayfair Witches, Servant of the Bones, etc)--!

These are the greats of literary horror, thinking horror. Horror with richly drawn characters and a plot to die for!

So what about the actresses? Those iconic ladies that frightened the daylights of me, for instance! Although there have been more there are two who stand out: the late, great Ingrid Pitt and Barbara Steele.

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I spent many a night with the light on and the covers pulled up over my head because of these two.

Women have contributed greatly to horror fiction and film and they deserve our respect.

I seek in my own small way to honor them by contributing what I can in writing good horror fiction.

I thank those who first led the way and the greats who continue to do so.
And if you don't think a woman can write terrifying horror, here's scene from Susan Hill's The Woman In Black:

'Nuff said!

DOWNLOAD FOR FREE! 'Song Of The Vampire' On Smashwords!

Three dark vampire tales for your reading pleasure and they're free!

Here's an excerpt:

"...She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out—her larynx had been chewed through.

It was amazing how long a person could live whilst being devoured. But then mercifully, the pain began to subside as death came to claim her..."


Song of the Vampire: darkest vampire fairytale

Memoir: a journal and a fate not worse than death?

and Truth Hurts: the writer of wimpy vampires so gets her comeuppance!

Go on you know you want to!

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/39187



Demon Eco Says God Created Angels For A Reason!

Now, you have to remember who Eco is!
For those of you who did not read The House on Blackstone Moor, Eco is demon spawn and thoroughly evil.

He is also, as my most recent reviewer wrote, 'I like Eco, he is demented and brilliantly so.' 
I have to say I like him too and frankly, the sequel, Unholy Testament, features him.

Now, since he has all the time in the world, he has experienced so much. There will be all sorts of little 'Eco gems' that he will come out with. For instance, he will tell the reader his reasoning as to why God created angels.

It was he believes, to have witnesses to creation. As he says: "I can understand him wanting an audience, truly I can. As for myself, I'd have been bored to tears, it was after all only a light show, stunning though it may have been!"

Yes easily bored is Eco. However there is that which does excite him.

Eco again: "What delighted and inspired me was my discovery of conjuring!"

We do already know about his conjuring. Remember his 'children?' Those horrific creatures he created that he considers his own flesh and blood: those vile, demonic, flesh-eating monsters he had attack people?!

In Unholy Testament we will discover how he learned to conjur them, what the circumstances were and so forth.

Apparently, from what I can tell, he learned this craft in ancient Egypt, despite the fact that the magic practiced by Priests there was not evil. Leave it to Eco to find the right Priest, a priest to teach him all about the ways of dark conjuring!

Of course as time went on and Eco continued to exist there were other eras. Each with its own wizards and magicians and Eco there to take it all in!

It was the conjuring of his 'children' that most people find so fascinating.

Yes, it's going to be quite a journey, stay tuned!

What Is It About Angels and Devils?

We're fascinated by them.  Right now I'm reading Anne Rice's Memnoch the Devil and I find it profound and brilliant. It is one of the most unforgettable books I have ever read.

I won't review it here now, I'll be doing that on Goodreads shortly. What I do want to discuss is the subject matter.

What intelligent person doesn't have questions about God, creation and Heaven and Hell? We want to know. We can believe, that is the miracle of faith but I think we also want very much to know, to have all the answers to all the many questions we have. Perhaps it for this reason alone these kinds of books are as popular as they are.

That aside, I am fascinated by good and evil and the constant battle between the two. Angels might be God's foot soldiers, His helpmates. They know what He wants to do and they will do it without Him even asking. And He's pleased with his children of light.

They either exist or they don't. We can believe or not. What I am delighted about is they have become popular subject matter for fiction along with their evil counterpart.

Having them interact with characters we create is terrific. Having them then spar with one another good against bad is mind blowing.

As this is going on, in its very depiction, we are challenged as to what we believe.

If there be monsters then there also be angels to save us. If one thing comes from hell the other surely comes from Heaven.

Mightn't Heaven realistically or symbollically be there with the promise of salvation? And if it is, surely the characters we create fight the most important battles we can possibly imagine, conflicts that really mean something!

A Review From A Convert! Well, Decide For Yourself!

"Gothic horror. Not really my cup of tea, but Carole Gill's novel is a smooth read from page one and onwards..."

Lee Pletzers, publisher of Triskaideka Books has given me a great review. It's on Lee's own book review site, The Lonely Reviewer:

http://reviewer-sffh.blogspot.com/

The review is also on Smashwords:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/33847

He doesn't even like gothic horror, but he liked my book! I can't tell you (but I'll try hardest) how much that means to me!

You see, I want to bring new readers into reading gothic genre books. That is my aim and I feel this is a first step.

I feel the gothic narrative is a great one and deserves to be given new life and energy. It must, I feel, be imbued with far darker themes and bolder storylines. I don't say, 'gothic romance was never like this,' for nothing. It has to change and I want to help to change it.

Here's the rest of his review:

"...Chapter one is interesting and thrusts the reader straight into the world of Rose Baines with a nice tag at the end that forces a page turn.


Coming home to see her family slaughtered by her father, see is struck weak and taken to an insane asylum to recover, where on her first night in a solo room she is abused. This is just the start of the horrors she will soon be faced with. There are sex rituals, sacrifice, vampires, demons (I like Eco, he is demented and brilliantly so), children vamps, and the leader, Louis Dartion, oh and gypsies.

All Gothic fans will love this book and Carole has created characters we can all identify with. Rose is a shy and uncomfortable around strangers and has a tendency to faint. Louis Dartion is the opposite but he too has a soft side. Some of the characters are in the story to move the plot along but most are interesting characters, like Dartion's wife, Marta and Reverend Hobbs.

Secrets will be exposed that will rock Rose's world and throw her life in turmoil. The amount of twists and turns this book takes will leave your head spinning and guessing until the end. And the journey Rose takes in this book is truly epic and you'll enjoy reading her exploits and adventure late into the night."

Thank you, Lee!
And remember everyone! The sequel, Unholy Testament is coming!