Holiday BLAHS!!!

Ugh, is it me, or have the holidays gotten tired and trite? With the economy and everything else seeming to be rolling downhill, it's no wonder people look more and more like emotionless zombies to me. It makes me wonder what the heck happened to the good 'ol US of A. No, we've seen the progress of how we came to be (or should that read 'digress'?) but one thing's for sure, the holidays have lost their true meaning over time, and mankind has killed it's spirit!

BOOK REVIEW: ABRAXAS:THE HAYWIRE HALLOWEEN

OH MY GOD....if you're a Halloween freak, you are in for an ABSOLUTE treat with this novella! Like I mentioned in the review of the chapter sneak peek, Abraxas: The Haywire Halloween has Abraxas vampire clan member Jonathan, wanting to go out for Halloween. On their travels, he finds a skeleton key pendant that helps him unknowingly unleash his secret wish for everyday to be Halloween. That's when all hell breaks loose! Whatever people are dressed up as, they become it, and heaven help you if you're wearing a rubber mask! Everything from paper bats to rubber mice come alive, and even...you guessed it...the dead. (Which has the same affect for folks dressed up like zombies too!) And I liked the 'nod' to Michael Jackson's "Thriller"---thanks to Kurt, who can't stand zombies whatsoever, lol. I LOVE this guy!!With Kiera's help, they soon discover a creepy little demon with goat's eyes named Ock who is the mischief maker, so the clansters set off to make things right, by getting rid of him for good.

Despite all of the chaos, all the characters bounce off each other so well, you feel like youre right there with them, witnessing the mayhem. The vivid descriptions of everything happening is just awesome, and the action is nonstop. Jonathan quickly learns to be careful of what he wants, because Ock looks for 'loopholes' in his wishes, making the wishes more wosre than what he wants--and Jonathan uses his last and final wish to end themadness, along with a banishing ritual that they all join in to get rid of him--which sounded really, really disgusting, lol.

Halloween lovers, this book is so kick ass, it's OFF my 5-star scale, lol. This is a crazy as hell horror-comedy romp you won't be disappointed with.

YAY! it's October!

Well, it's officially October first, and can't wait to get my Halloween on, lol. One thing's for sure though, I will NOT be going out to Bumblefuck just to do a goofy scary hayride!!! The drive through huge farmlands and dark pastures isn't fun anymore! Besides, I think I've done them all, lol. Happy October, folks!

BOOK REVIEW: THE ZOMBIE COOKBOOK by Various Authors

WOW! I LOVED this book!! The Zombie Cookbook is comprised of several short stories, poems, and recipes that include the use of zombies. I'll go over each one individually.
"The Wokking Dead" by Ms. Fabian is a funny 'ZombieBusters' type of story, taking place in a Korean restaurant, Seoul Food. Using paint thinner, chainsaws, flame throwers and even Super Soakers loaded with their own zombie-killing concoctions, this group of 'Busters is not one to be played with! "Secret Ingredient" by Ms. Haselton, has Annie and Sam, owners of the L-Double-J Ranch, hiring a zombie named Clete to help her out in the kitchen! Although Anne is definitely not fond of having a zombie in her kitchen, despite Sam's defense that Clete is well-trained, and can cook a damn fine meal, she can only tolerate this very mismatched cooking duo for so long, and comes up with a tricky tactic to put an end to things once and for all. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer! "A Zombie Named Clete" by the same author is a tiny tribute poem to the zombie in the aforementioned story. "Beer-Battered Zombie" is a recipe by Ms. Butcher that had me in a fit of tears--You'll be saying "Ew!" while laughing your head off at the same time! "The Right Recipe" by Ms. Neiswender tells the tale of Paul Clemmons, Food Editor of Zombie Cookbookery Publications International. Checking through his emails containing comments about the latest book of zombie recipes, (while ignoring the badly-spelled death threats) he gets an unexpected surprise from a pizza delivery person that'll put him in the position of the one being eaten instead of the zombies! "Quick & Easy Zombie Pastie" by Ms. Sender is another recipe that made me say, "Holy crap!" while laughing my butt off again. This particular recipe invloves the use of puffer fish as well, and does double duty as a 'refreshing smoothie'! "Express Cuisine" by Ms. Marshallsay, has Ruby, a tired secretary trying to get home on the train, facing a grave dilemma and a bloody brawl when a few zombies are discovered on board, the reason for the dilemma even more strange! "Brain Food" by Ms. Girtman is a flash fiction piece that packs a lot of the 'yuck' factor as a zombie husband tries a bit of an experiment on his quickly-decaying wife. "Brain Salad for Dummies" by Mr.Virtes was a very amusing short containing ingredients to keep a zombie off your trail while you escape them. (Leaving a TV on helps a whole lot too!) "A Zombie’s APB" by Cinsearae S. has the tale being told by a ranting, raving, ticked-off zombie, fed up with eating humans, as he claims we don't taste good anymore! Being so over-medicated, and pumped full of 'chemicals' and with occasional non-organic parts in our bodies, he gives a few hilarious incidents that prove his point, not to mention an idea to lure in only 'au natural' people for his kind to eat! "My Big Fat Zombie Wedding" by Ms. Fabian was a really cute, 'wedding of the century' story, as a human and zombie get married, not to mention the other paranormal guests that come to the reception, plus a special recipe for an 'Intel on Ice'--almost tempting, except for one ingerdient, lol! I also loved the cool intro from a special metal band from Amsterdam, called "The Zombie Cookbook"! Check them out at thezombiecookbook.com! Lastly, the artwork contained in this tome, done by George Silliman, compliments the book perfectly, not to mention the book cover itself, done by Ms. Santiago!
The Zombie Cookbook is kick-ass, 'pee-your-pants' funny, and definitely worth checking out! For those with a dark, twisted, sick sense of humor, GET THIS!! 5 Stars! Available at DamnationBooks.com! Find it HERE!

HP & The Half Blood Prince--REVIEW

Okay, so I FINALLY got some decent seating arrangements in the movie theater and no morons to bother me or annoy me. Yay for once!

As for the movie--of course there would be tweaks--it wasn't too bad. They threw in some stuff that never happened in the book of course, and I was pretty disappointed with the ending. Here I was, expecting to see the big showdown between Hogwarts and the Death Eaters, and all we get is Bellatrix jumping up on a dining hall table, kicking around some dishes and utensils, breaking some windows and blowing out all the candles in the hall. I'm like, "WTF?!?! That's ALL they're gonna do?!?!" And there was no funeral for Dumbledore! Another disappointment! I did, however, like what Hogwarts did in the event of his death. The glow from everyone's wand dissipating the Death Eater skull cloud was pretty cool.

Was it me, or was Lavendar Brown even more annoying than she was in the book? lol.

Again, not sure if it was me, but something about this installment seemed a bit...empty. I know these stories are getting darker and more involved, but that 'oomph' was missing in this one. Everyone was stellar, don't get me wrong, but once more, they tried to cram everything into 2 hours. If someone never read the books and only watched the movies, one would think the movie was really awesome, but for us who have read them, we know what is supposed to go where, what was left out and what was added, lol.

Draco is ugly. I don't care what anyone says. he is not 'hot' to me, lol. He sprouted into this wiry, goofy stringbean of a kid. Harry has gotten to be very handsome though, and Hermoine is beautiful! Still can't say much for Ron, though, lol.

The cave scene was pretty cool--all those dead bodies, yeesh.

Overall, on a scale from 1 -5, I give this one 3 1/2.

My faves so far have been the first 2 and Goblet of Fire.

REVIEW: A Love Story, or Be Careful What You Wish For

WOW! Erotica and Horror, perfect!… And intricately weaved in this short story by Mistress Rae about a hooker who gets WAY more than what she bargains for when she picks up a mysterious man. They start making out behind a XXX store before they take things indoors, and that's when the real (ahem) trouble starts. (And the inside cover art is HOT and nearly 99.9% nude if you like sexy demon-men!) The hooker’s brains were in her you-know-what when she picked up this particular doozy! Steamy and lusty, you’ll get into this story quickly, until WHAM!--you’re completely gotten at the end! This was wicked, evil fun, especially if you don’t mind dark humorous twists. I for one, love them! 4 1/2 stars!! And it's only $1.00. too! Can't beat that, lol. Find it HERE
(this review also appears on it's "buy" page.)

Potter, Potter, Potter....

Okay, you guys know I'm a bit of a Potter geek, so I'm counting down the days until Half Blood Prince comes out, lol. Even still, I think I'll wait it out another week so all the other goofballs can get it out of their system, and I'll be able to watch it without other people getting on my nerves by talking, lol! And having re-read the book to refresh my memory, I'm HOPING this movie will stay close to the book, and they don't screw up the ending in some way. Trust me, you'll hear me bitch about it if they do, ROFL!!!

BOOK REVIEW: ROADS TO RUIN by John Neumeister

Now this was a fun entertaining read! Roads to Ruin is a short story collection, dotted with poems and pics, all relating somehow to traveling on the road. "Round and Round" is a story of an adulterous man having to repeat getting in an accident over and over and over (in his mad dash to get away from the woman's husband, this is his personal hell!), "Ruin" tells about a traveler who wanders into a witch's house, that in actuality doesn't exist, and "Nothing There" tells a story of a paranoid mother who takes REALLY extreme measures to make sure her daughter remains 'pure' when she goes out on a date with her boyfriend, and "Watch for The Exit" is a hilarious story of a group of friends on a road trip that goes TERRIBLY WRONG when they're followed by a cop with no face...and "D-Tour" is about a disgruntled family on the road, forced to take a detour that becomes oddly...diabolical. I LOVED this collection, and I hope Mr. Neumister comes out with more. GETS A 4 1/2!!! (this review also appears at the book's buy page, HERE)

BOOK REVIEW: ABRAXAS: Seeing Green, Book 4 by Cinsearae Santiago

Ms. Cinsearae does it again! Wow...freaky and creepy. What can I say? Demonic possession is the focus in this installment, as Ryan's covetousness over Christine makes him vulnerable to invasion by a demon of jealousy. (We start seeing hints of it in "Affaires de Coeur" from the last book) Afterward, matters get more pressing as the demon needs to be exorcised before it becomes a more permanent fixture by killing Ryan's soul--and Christine's!--in order to have a chance at gaining Abraxas' powers. The seductiveness of this demon in disguise is so unnerving and eerie, and Christine is sooo conflicted, i felt so bad for her!--I couldn't put this down yet again. I was however, disappointed to see that Edward's out of the picture for now, and I hope he won't be gone from the series entirely. But I am growing fond of 'Jonathan'--he seems like a weird, quirky kid, (especially after checking out another sneak peek from an upcoming Halloween book in this series!) alas, as always, we're left on another cliffhanger, and I REALLY can't wait to see what happens in the next book!!! KUDOS, AND GETS A 5!!! (this review also appears at the books buy page, HERE

BOOK REVIEW: MY PROM DATE'S A VAMPIRE---by Kitty Keswick

This short story was adorable! Typical goth chick (and witch) Wendy stoke gets dumped by her boyfriend just days before the junior prom. Her fave hangout is the local cemetery, where she enjoys eating her Ben & Jerry's icecream! She meets Matt Glascow there, a vampire which she takes to very quickly---who escorts her to the prom. It has a cute, happy ending, although I would have loved to seen this story expanded out a bit more--- I mean, the principle of her school is a werewolf! (Her vampire date encounters him for a split second, which is why the principal 'reveals' himself. After all, vamps and werewolves don't get along well and get quite irked when one steps on the other's 'territory'. ) GETS A 3 1/2! (find this at www.thewildrosepress.com)

Something to give you a good laugh...

And in a fun way! One of my favorite indy authors, Cinsearae S., was guest blogging with another author, Christy Poff, over at AuthorsByAuthors Blogspot for a week. One thing that made me laugh my head off was this crazy-ass interview conducted by HER CHARACTERS out of her "Abraxas" series. Just for the hell of it, if you have time, check out the blog post: "HILARIOUS INTERVIEW WITH..." to see what I mean. That's the most creative interview I've ever seen, lol!

REVIEW: A LOOK INTO THE MIRROR DARKLY by THE GRATISTA VAMPIRE CLAN

I was patiently waiting for the next collection of works from this group, and once more, I'm happy to say I was NOT disappointed. The themes in this anthology might be considered 'touchy' by the more stiffer and mundane-minded, but once you read this, you'll see that it's not what you think.
"Pain" is received on many different levels and can be taken in so many ways. Sometimes, one's pain is another's pleasure. There's a wonderful medley of stories here, some hilarious, some quite sad, and some even mildly erotic. I was quite intrigued with Mr. Mullen's "The Gomorra Incident", as well as Mr. Glascow's "Vinaigrettes of Pain" in which he offers excerpts from stories he's written--which I hope one day to actually read in their entirety! "Contemplating The End" by Spider was a hoot--the ending will throw you for a loop! And my jaw dropped when I read "Hotline", again by Mr. Glascow. (What a twist on the whole 'suicide helpline' thing!!!) Ms. Poff's "Vampires Hurricane Ball" was a spicy treat. Camille, Dominic, Spider, and Phylis give their haunting offerings of poetry, and once again, Ms. Santiago wows the reader with her gothic photography, and I am very much in love with the cover as well. another image that really caught my eye within the book was of a large stone staircase and what looked like the ruins of a piece of a 19th century mansion or something! And although Mr. Boye's story, "Bastion's Pride" was a more conventional piece this time around, it was still dark enough to fit into the category of 'pain of loss' VERY well.
I give this group another round of applause. GETS A 5.

You can find it HERE in print or e-book!

BOOK REVIEW: EMBER, by Bettie Sharpe

A fairy tale like no other! I was wowed at this dark, Cinderella-ish tale, where prince Charming doesn't quite live up to his name, and our heroine, Ember, isn't exactly a raving beauty either--but a witch instead. Her stepsisters aren't cruel, but kind and caring courteseans!-- having moved in shortly after Ember's mother dies, and her father takes the eldest for his wife, bringing two 'sisters' with her.

Gaetane, a witch, bestows the prince with a blessing and a curse, to be perfect in everyone's eyes, every woman desiring him, and every man respecting him. There wold be nothing in the world that wouldn't be done for him. This ''blessing'' over time causes the Prince to long for real truth, love and honesty. Ember is the only one who fights the curse, and it is Ember that the Prince now yearns for--the one who could possibly love him for who he truly is. The big question is, will she give him what he craves?

This short story is so vivid, I felt like I was right there! I enjoyed the use of 13th century verbiage sprinkled throughout the story, and I liked the characters, especially Ember and her talent for using fire. The story takes you back to days of old, when enchantments and magic were very real. A very enjoyable story, you can still read it online at her website, or grab a print version of it (and I LOVED the cover!) at http://www.lulu.com/content/1727481. Definitely kick-ass & gets a 5!

GOD, ROB! NOOOOO!

*SIGH* and I've recently found out that Rob Zombie will continue the Halloween franchise by doing Halloween 2, due for a summer release. ARGH!!!!! And I've also found out that Billy Bob will not be playing Freddie Kreuger, but a "Watchmen" movie actor instead. My head hurts.

Can't WAIT to get my hands on THIS book

Okay, so I'm lurking around (Ahem...following) Ms. Santiago and her kick-ass ABRAXAS series. I am totally hooked. One thing I like is that she offers free chapter downloads for the more impatient folks, like myself, lol. and I happened to discover she has a 'Halloween' book coming out that will revolve around the Abraxas 'clansters', mainly Jonathan, who's severely piqued my interest from the chapter download I got. All I can say is, he's a WEIRD kid, lol!! I LOVE the in-your-face style she has, and how fast paced and exciting things go. The download alone was a severe TEASER!!! And the book trailer was so cool!

However, I'm still trying to wait patiently for book 4 in her ABRAXAS series, "Seeing Green", and hopefully some of the mysteries in this series will be unraveled a bit more in this volume.

You HAVE to check her stuff out at http://bloodtouch.webs.com/abraxas.htm You WON'T be disappointed if you love the dark, gothy stuff.....

REVIEW: The "Twilight" Series

Yeah, I'm know, I'm late jumping on the Twilight bandwagon. But, I have to say, I'm kinda glad I didn't rush it. I'll give my brief review of each book.
Okay, so the first book was 'meh'. I had to keep in mind that this is a teenager talking and the characters will have teeneageish ways. Okay. Fine. But sometimes I just wanted to strangle Bella. I've never seen or read of a character so clumsy and so uncoordinated that she could trip on her own shadow if possible. That was the one thing that irked me about this one. New Moon was better. I happen to LIKE Jacob. A lot. I love his sarcastic humor. And I just couldn't believe how much Bella pined away over Edward disappearing on her like that. I'm not being hard, but still, get a backbone, girl! Eclipse wasn't bad either, but Breaking Dawn left a lot to be desired. Halfway through the book, I caught myself wondering, 'When is this going to end?' One of the many things that irked me about the last book was the readers got gypped out of reading about Bella and Edward making love for the first time. There's no descriptions whatsoever about the act itself. It's like a 'fade to black' and then it's the next day. WTF?!
Bella's changeover was absolutely hideous. It's not enough that she gets pregnant and has a supervamp growing in her at practically triple speed, but she wants to have the baby while still human, which very nearly kills her. to save her, Edward injects her with his venom, (so that kills the whole 'romantic' changeover thing) and also, despite being a newborn vamp, she's not all psycho crazy like how everyone tell her newborns are. She's her regular boring self. And her first hunt--she goes out in a satin dress and stilettos?!?! (At least she had the sense to take them off.)
And God--is she ever the worry-wort. That got on my nerves too. Even the other freakin' characters in the book kept telling her not to worry about things.
The happy ending was just too cheesy for me. it was like a win-win-win without any real sacrifice. And Bella was right. She was a selfish person. She wanted Edward and Jacob, and in so many ways, she did get them both.
Okay, I can understand the whole vampire craze-thing going on lately, and how folks just loooove happy endings, and need an escape from reality. We all need that every now and then. But I prefer a bit more excitement, tension, something to keep me turning the pages. I found myself taking nearly a month to finish the last book. I can consent to the fact there were a lot of other readers not too satisfied with how this series ended as well, but no matter, Meyer has made her millions and has her fans, so negative comments don't really mean crap to her, lol.
My fave characters out of this series? Jacob and Alice. Not Bella and Edward. Surprise!! They seemed more 'alive' to me than everyone else.
This series just seemed average at best. Not wonderful, but ok. I have yet to see the movie, but again..I'm in no rush.
PS---Renesmee is a HORRIBLE name for a child.

REALLY HATING the moviegoing experience

Okay, so it was bad enough having to go see that stupid Valentine's 3-D ''horror'' movie with my bf---but I'll be fair--since I'll be dragging him to see Harry Potter 7 this July...but the sucky movie isn't the issue here...it's the movie going EXPERIENCE. You spend way too much on junk at the concessions---I don't, I always bring my own stuff---then you sit in a disgusting theater with sticky floors covered in candy wrappers, gum (or pray tell what else) under your seat, leftover food garbage, tissues, the list goes on. Then you have to deal with idiot teens who don't know how to shut the hell up, are constantly playing with their cellphones--the glaring blue lights in the dark are really irksome--the occasional screaming little kid or baby, and I swear on my life--wherever I sit, there's some loud asshole not too far away that completely annoys me, EVERY TIME we go to the movies, or someone taller than me that sits IN FRONT OF ME!!! It's just another reminder as to WHY I don't bother, and just wait for the movie to come out on DVD. If my bf didn't want to go see that drek of a horror flick, it wouldn't have bothered me a bit. And when it comes to seeing HP, I always wait at least two weeks so all the crazy kids can get it out of their system, and check out a theater far away. *sigh* it's so ridiculous to have to go through crap like this...!!!

WHY, OH WHY, the movie remakes?!?

Okay, I'm starting to get really annoyed with the old-school horror movie remakes. I mean, the originals aren't that OLD to be remade in the first place!! Has Hollywood become that hard-up for ideas? And not even NEW ones--they keep rehashing old shit!!! Take "HALLOWEEN" for instance. Rob, I love ya, but your remake wasn't all that interesting. From my understanding, he wanted to give it a different twist. That's all well and good, but...tinkering with a CLASSIC...there's gotta be some limits to this, c'mon!
From my point of view, the original Michael Meyers was possessed. Period. Therefore Michael was deemed demonic and unstoppable. Rob's version of Michael took a more 'psychotic' angle. And he WAS stoppable. From the story, we see how Michael grew up and became the wacko nutjob that he was. I felt bad for him as a kid--slipshod parents (stripper mom, shitheel of a stepdad, uncaring older sister)--vicious peers in school who would often tease him or mouth off about his stripper mom--with no one to talk to or fall back on, well, all that negativity builds up! But in the end, Loomis gets killed, and his baby sister kills him.
Huh??
Oh yeah, right, Zombie wanted to change things a bit. okay. *sigh* after checking this flick out, sad to say, I wasn't impressed. I give kudos to his whacked out ORIGINAL movies--''House of 1,000 Corpses'' and ''The Devil's Rejects''---if you're a Zombie fan, you just like his stuff, lol---but he should just stick to doing his own thing and leave the classics alone.

And now we have ''Friday The 13th'' coming out on (when?) None other than Friday the thirteenth this month. GOD, spare me, please!!!! The whole Jason series isn't that old either!!! Needless to say, I will not bother checking this out.

Remember 'House of Wax'? This is an old classic. That was NOT a new story. There were two old versions of this, one of them starring Vincent Price. That's right kiddies. Paris Hilton (God, can someone just make her disappear?!) did not 'star' (yeah, right) in a new horror flick. Price was probably turning over in his grave when they released THAT horse turd.

And guess what kiddies? I heard rumors of them doing Nightmare on Elm Street too, with Billy Bob Thornton as Freddy Kreuger. AAAACK!!! Billy's an aweosme actor (Slingblade I still think was his best performance) but, seeing him as Freddy?!?! Oh Robert, why did you pass the torch??? *sigh---again*......

A Dark Writers Group to Watch Out For in '09

I've been following this particular group for a little over a year now because, quite frankly, I LOVE their stuff. The group itself is a yahoo writers group started back in '04 and only recently started publishing 2 anthologies a year. They have three to date, that, if you admire gothic, atmospheric photos, love reading dark, so-creepy-it-makes-your-skin-crawl stories and poetry, then you NEED to check out the Gratista Vampire Clan. Founded by Ms. Cinsearae S., this group is THE group that's gonna go places. My fave writers in their anthologies so far are the likes of "Spider", Anton Glascow, and Camille McKeever. Ms. Cinsearae S. herself provides hauntingly beautiful photos. You can find out all about them at her website (in my fave links section!!--just look under 'Clan Anthologies') and check out their kick-ass, creepy book trailers! This is a talented bunch, and I wish them only the best.

New year, new whatever!

Online journals...who'd have thunkit? I'm still used to good old fashioned pen-and-paper--somehow it feels more secure and personal. Not knocking technology, but it's not infallible, ya know?

Okay, so this is my debut blog. Yaaayyy. Whatever. Seriously folks, everybody does this, and there's a mountain of blogs out there. One more won't seem to make or break anything. The internet, like the universe, is vast and ongoing. Limitless. Seems almost evil in a sense, lol.
I'm pretty much no frills. I'll talk about whatever I like, so be prepared. I'm candid. Speaking my mind is fun, especially when it's the truth. Most times the truth is more fun than a lie. A lot of folks try to avoid me because of that. The truth? "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!"

Seriously (again), I love reading, and watching movies too. I'd like this to be sort of a blog for book and movie reviews. Plus personal thoughts here and there. Hm, most blogs are like this anyway. Way to go for being creative there, Shaun, Geez. Can you tell I have dry humor? If anything, I'd love to make new friends out there in cyber-land.

As far as book reviews go, I'd like to make it a hobby. I like checking out independently published books. I post a few comments here and there on those books when I can, but I'd like to be an 'official' book reviewer, however one becomes that, lol. With that being said, if you are independently published, I'd love to check out your work, but it must be horror/paranormal or gothic in theme. Again, I don't do mainstream. I like to escape. I get enough mainstream having to deal with the world, and I can't even bear to watch tv anymore with all the reality-show bullshit on it these days.

I do have quite a few subjects I'd like to discuss, but I'll save them for another day. Schoolwork and all that. But I shall return...