The ‘Horror Elite’ take a bite into literature!
Posted by Ms Harker | Filed under Horror Reading
Greetings and Salutations.
The honourable B_Sol over at The Vault of Horror has taken it upon himself to collate the opine of blogging horror minds; this time on the topic of literature. An email was sent to yours truly to participate and I undertook the task with fervor. Blood, tears and blood went into my list and I’m happy to say a few made the top thirty cut. Go to The Vault and check the final list. Below is my top ten, what would you have submitted dear readers?
Ms Harker
1. Dracula, Bram Stoker
2. Let The Right One In, John Ajvide Lindqvist
3. Salem’s Lot, Stephen King
4. Perfume, Patrick Suskind
5. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
5. Heart Shaped Box, Joe Hill
6. Handling The Undead, John Ajvide Lindqvist
7. Carmilla, J. Sheridan Le Fanu
8. Merrick, Anne Rice
9. The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, Jennifer lynch
10. The Gashly Crumb Tinies, Edward Gorey
Tags: Horror, Horror Novels
Horror Book Trailers, the good and the bad…
Posted by Ms Harker | Filed under Horror Reading
Greetings and Salutations.
I need to discuss something with you all, that I have been finding a little perplexing. An emerging trend in the book world, leading up to a new release, has been the evolution of a promotional toll known as the ‘book trailer’. I’m sure this isn’t limited to the horror genre, however it seems to have been embraced by some of the horror writing community. Two recent offerings of this phenomena are ‘Audrey’s Door‘ by Sarah Lanagan and ‘Dracula the Un-dead‘ by Ian Holt and direct descendant of Bram Stoker himself Dacre Stoker.
I’m honestly unsure how I feel about the trend towards using these trailers to promote books, however I definitely know one thing they can be really good or really bad! A brilliant example was the campaign attached to ‘The Strain‘ by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan. This campaign had a fabulous website and the trailers were well linked to the novel itself, well produced and definitely made you want to read the book.
Equally the recently featured trailer for ‘Audrey’s Door’ on Shock Til You Drop is well produced, gives you a couple of good scares and again has me very keen to read the novel.
“Audrey’s Door is the tale of Audrey Lucas, a young woman who moves into an Upper West Side apartment in which a terrible tragedy recently occurred. Audrey’s not scared, however, because she’s undergone her own share of tragedy.
But, is it something otherworldly or Audrey’s own increasing instability that’s to blame for the dark visions that haunt her . . . and for the voice that demands that she build a door? A door it would be true madness to open . . .” (Shock Til You Drop)
On the more negative side of the coffin we have the trailer for ‘Dracula The Un-Dead’, granted I may be a bit pissy at the entire prospect of this book being written in the first place. But hey, Dacre Stoker is a direct descendant of the mighty Bram Stoker, so if he wants to trash his family’s literary legacy then far be it from me to question… However if the trailer is anything to go by, the gothic Irishman will be spinning in his grave! The novel has been written (obviously) with the blessing of the Stoker family and takes place twenty five years post Dracula turning to dust:
“Van Helsing’s protégé, Dr. Jack Seward, is now a disgraced morphine addict obsessed with stamping out evil across Europe. Meanwhile, an unknowing Quincey Harker, the grown son of Jonathan and Mina, leaves law school for the London stage, only to stumble upon the troubled production of “Dracula,” directed and produced by Bram Stoker himself.
The play plunges Quincey into the world of his parents’ terrible secrets, but before he can confront them he experiences evil in a way he had never imagined. One by one, the band of heroes that defeated Dracula a quarter-century ago is being hunted down. Could it be that Dracula somehow survived their attack and is seeking revenge? Or is their another force at work whose relentless purpose is to destroy anything and anyone associated with Dracula?” (Shock Til You Drop)
In the age of multi media advertising, blogging, twittering etc in some ways I think it was inevitable that the printed word had to do something in order to keep up with the flow of worldwide information. However the continuum between good and bad execution of this marketing strategy is vast, I hope that for some authors it does not result in their work being overlooked.
Ms Harker
Tags: Horror, Horror Novels, Vampire
Hammer Glamour… can you handle the heat?
Posted by Ms Harker | Filed under Horror Collectibles, Horror Reading
Greetings and salutations. Recently I was contacted by a charming gent at Titan Publishing asking if I would mind having a look at their pending release ‘Hammer Glamour‘ by Marcus Hearn. As I am nowhere near an aficionado on the Hammer Stables I was delighted by the opportunity to read about the horror femme fatale’s and heroines that graced the infamous films.
The book is a collectors item for all horror fans, full of glossy well presented steamy pics and detailed information on the set of stunners and temptresses that graced the silver screen in the name of Hammer Horror. Like I said, I am not hugely familiar with the suite of Hammer films so I flicked through the book looking for a name a recognised and low and behold there she was… Joanna Lumley!
Lumley starred in ‘The Satanic Rites of Dracula‘ as Jessica Van Helsing, replacing the actress Stephanie Beacham who played Jessica in the preceding film ‘Dracula A.D 1972‘. Lumley’s film picks up where Dracula A.D 1972 leves off, Jessica Van Helsing is in quite a predicament investigating a vampire infestation within a cellar in Pelham House. She unfortunately gets trapped and needs to be rescued by some sarcastic cops who prior to her entrapment had not believed her story. According to ‘Hammer Glamour’ Lumley features in one of the most memorable scenes in the film providing the centre piece sacrifice for Dracula’s final ritual, before being rescued.
‘Hammer Glamour’ is full of gorgeous pictures of the Hammer glamour pusses (Meow!) and interesting information as to their part in an enduring chapter of horror history and present, spanning from the 1930’s and starting to make its come back in the current day. The book is well worth a look. Stay tuned in the next couple of weeks as I intend to share with you more of these luscious ladies of crypts, coffins and cauldrons!
Ms Harker
Tags: Horror, Horror Films, Horror Novels
