I'm Going To Anthocon!

I'm going to be at Anthocon in Portsmouth, NH November 8 - 10. My husband is coming with me. I hope to snag a reading. I'd like to participate in panels, but I doubt I can at this late date. I hope to read from my horror short stories "The Oily", "Trailer Trash Zombies", and "We're All Mad Here". I may also read from my WIP thriller/family saga "Secrets and Lies" if I have time.

Anyone reading going to Anthocon who wants to meet for coffee or a meal or something? I'm meeting with Charles Day of Evil Jester Press for some chit-chat, since he'll be there. This looks to be much fun!

Crickets...

I really need to update here more often.

Coming soon - great reviews for "Zippered Flesh 2". That book is selling very well even a couple of months after its release. It's also free for the next few days, so pick up your copy if you haven't already. Full name of the book is "Zippered Flesh 2: More Tales Of Body Enhancements Gone Bad".  My story "We're All Mad Here" appears in that book. It's about plastic surgery and a Crazy Cat Lady. Meow!

Today's radio show with Marsha Casper Cook went very well. I read from "The Oily", which is my favorite of all my dark fiction stories. To read an excerpt, go to the top of this site and click on the title in the bar. There are also a blurb and buy links in case you want more.

Welcome Blog Hoppers! Let's Talk Vampires!

It's time to talk about vampires. In addition to writing dark fiction, fantasy, and horror, I also write erotica and romance.

Vampires in horror are much different from vampires in erotica. Here are some differences:

Romance: vampires sparkle

Horror: vampires stink of the grave

Romance: vampires are damaged anti-heroes who can be saved if the right woman came along

Horror: vampires turn women into their personal slaves, and not in a good way

Romance: vampires are glamorous

Horror: vampires are terrifying

Romance: Edward Cullen

Horror: Max Schreck

Romance: vampire is redeemed by a good woman

Horror: vampire is killed in creative ways such as sunlight, impaling on a crucifix, drowning, and disease of the blood.

Although I write erotic romances, and I've written one with a female vampire as a character, I much prefer the classic horrific Universal and Hammer Horror styled vampire. The classic tale of the Vampire of Croglin Grange is what I consider a true vampire. And it doesn't sparkle. Here's the Vampire of Croglin Grange legend, from the Mysterious Britain and Ireland web site:

Legend tells that Croglin Grange was in the hands of the Fisher Family for many centuries. In the Early 19th Century the Fishers moved from the property into larger dwellings and put the property up to let. All during the cold long winter the house was empty, who knows what ancient stirrings were aroused in its period of dereliction. As the winter passed into spring the grange was finally let to 2 brothers and a sister called the Cranswells. It seems that they enjoyed life to the full and soon settled in to village routine and socialised with the local people. They were well liked within the village and loved their new home very much.

One summers evening as the shadows drew long around the Grange, and the Churchyard hollow took on the blackness of night. Miss Cranswell took her leave to her bed chamber, she paused to look out of the window in the direction of the darkened churchyard at the bottom of their long lawn, and noticed something peculiar in the vicinity of the churchyard. It seemed that above the darker blackness of the gravestones, she could see two points of light moving. In time they moved from the graveyard over the shadows of the wall, moving closer on to the bottom of the lawn where they played around the churchyard wall. By this time Miss Cranswells curiosity had given way to a deep feeling of unease, she shut the window tight bolted the door and laid down in her bed to try and get some sleep.

After a short while she checked herself for her foolish superstition and slowly drifted to slumber. On the verge of sleep she was suddenly jolted awake by a low rustling from outside the window. She twisted in bed and sat bolt upright, outside the window burning like coals in the night were two points of light, which she now recognised as the demon eyes of some humanoid creature who was grasping at the window pane. She tried to scream but terror froze the sound in her throat.

The sound of rustling gave way to picking and she realised that the creatures brutish hands were unpicking the lead from the triangular panes. First one, then another of the small glass panels gave way and fell to the floor. A grey cadaver like hand reached in and pulled the latch. The window swung inwards in one slow motion and the figure climbed through the gap with a cat like ease. Miss Cranswell could now hardly breathe let alone scream for before her stood the towering figure of a man, pale, almost translucent with bright burning eyes and blood red lips. He stepped to the bed and in one movement grasped her hair with gnarled hands, and pulled her head back as if to deliver a kiss.

The brothers, sleeping in separate rooms were aroused by a loud high pitched scream that seemed to shake the very walls of the Grange. In a moment they were before their sisters door. The door was locked so they smashed through with a poker, eventually breaking through into a devastating scene. There was a stench of mouldy decay in the air and upon the bed lay their sister, blood pumping from arterial gashes in her neck. One of the brothers rushed to the open window and just caught sight of a shadow flitting across the bottom of the lawn near the churchyard. They managed to stop the blood flow and revive Miss Cranswell, the next few hours were spent in the attempt to save her life.

Miss Cranswell survived the attack and when she was strong enough to travel they took her to Switzerland to recuperate in the fresh mountain air. When the full story was in the open the brothers swore revenge on the creature, at whose nature they could only guess. When Miss Cranswell had recovered fully and heard of her brothers plans to hunt out her assailant, she persuaded her brothers to let her act as bait, and would not be dissuaded by her brothers concerns.

So it came to be that the Cranswells returned to Croglin one dark winters day. Miss Cranswell took her place in the room overlooking the churchyard, and as the moon rose a pair of bright lights shone in the shadows of the churchyard. Once more the figure of a man appeared at the window and picked the leaded glass to gain entry to the bed chamber. This time the two brothers were lying in wait in the shadows, as the figure came to step into the room they both loosed shots at the creature. There was a low howl and the creature sped off at in the direction from whence it came. Not wishing to follow such a night creature into its domain the two brothers waited for daybreak.

First thing in the morning they took Miss Cranswell to safety and gathered all the residents of the grange around them to carry out their gruesome task. The men searched the graveyard for any signs of disturbance on finding none turned their attention to the church. All was quiet but they noticed that the crypt door was slightly ajar. Pushing into the crypt they were met with a horrific scene. All around the crypt were the scattered remains of broken coffins and gnawed human bones. One coffin stood alone in the corner and seemed to have been left untouched by the chaos. The villagers wrenched off the coffin lid, inside wrapped in mouldy clothes was what they assumed to be a vampire. Its eyes were cold and lifeless in the daylight but a fresh pistol wound was gaping from one of the creatures legs. The villagers dragged the coffin and its demonic contents out into the churchyard and burned the lot to ashes.

Nobody seemed to know where this strange creature came from, or why it had remained dormant in the centuries of peace when the Fishers lived in the property. One can only surmise that during the period of dereliction, an age old horror was reawakened and would not return to rest after the house was reoccupied.

Enjoy the Vampire Bite Blog Hop!

A Roach For Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is right around the corner. Why do something mundane on Valentine's Day like honor your sweetie with gifts of flowers, boxed chocolates, a fancy dinner, champagne, sex toys, and a little roll between the sheets to top off the night? Do something different!

Name a Madagascar hissing cockroach after your true love!

You've seen these things in zoos. They're big. They hiss. They make the Zanti misfits look like fruit flies.

Roaches have real character. They are resilient. Tenacious. Creative. Prolific! Resourceful and loyal. Those are great qualities in any mate. You can now tell your honey bunny he or she is as sexy as a roach!

So now instead of greeting each individual roach with a "WTF IS THAT?" you can call it Tootsie Wootsie or Sugar Bear. All you need to do is give a $10 donation to the Bronx Zoo and you get to name a really cool Madagascar hissing cockroach after your soulmate. You'll even get a certificate of honor. How cool is that? According to the Bronx Zoo web site, "Your $10 donation helps WCS conserve species big and small, beautiful and damned. With your support, we'll continue to do our work saving wildlife in the forests of Madagascar and throughout the world's most majestic wild places."

Forget the chocolates and roses. Name one of these bugs after your true love, help support the Bronx Zoo, and buy some dark and horrific books to end the night on a high note. Try my horror novels and short stories. You may find links to pages about each one at the top of this web site. Choose "The Oily" (Stupefying Stories), "Shattering The Meat Tunnel" (Mirages), "We're All Mad Here" (Zippered Flesh 2), "Back Beyond The Hedge Row" (Kizuna), or "Alicia", which is a dark fantasy romance story. Perfect for Valentine's Day! Enjoy a good read, and Happy Valentine's Day!

Note: "We're All Mad Here" is so new it's not on this web site yet. It appears in the horror anthology "Zippered Flesh 2: More Tales Of Body Enhancements Gone Bad!" You may buy the book at Amazon.

Zippered Flesh 2 - paperback

Zippered Flesh 2 - ebook

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

NOW AVAILABLE: Zippered Flesh 2: More Tales Of Body Enhancements Gone Bad!

Now available in print form! Kindle edition coming soon. Zippered Flesh 2: More Tales Of Body Enhancements Gone Bad! My story "We're All Mad Here" appears in this anthology. It's my Crazy Cat Lady story. :) The book is edited by Weldon Burge for Smart Rhino Publications.

Here are all the authors. I'm in some very good company.

“The Modern Adonis” by Bryan Hall

“Taut” by Shaun Meeks

“The Hunger Artist” by Lisa Mannetti

“Skin Deep” by Carson Buckingham

“The Sun-Snake” by Christine Morgan

“Knowledge” by Kate Monroe

“Prosthetics” by Daniel I. Russell

“After Darque” by M.L. Roos

“The Affair of the Jade Dragon” by Rick Hudson

“The Future of Flesh” by J.M. Reinbold

“We’re All Mad Here” by E.A. Black

“Seeds” by L.L. Soares

“Perfection” by Doug Blakeslee

“Underneath” by Kealan Patrick Burke

“The Perfect Size” by A.P. Sessler

“Piper at the Gates of Dawn” by David Benton & W.D. Gagliani

“BabyDaddy” by Jonathan Templar

“The Little Things” by Christian A. Larsen

“Clockwork” by Shaun Jeffrey

“Luscious” by Jezzy Wolfe

“Rapture” by Charles Colyott

“Primal Tongue” by Michael Bailey

Pick up your copy of the book today!

The End Of The World - An Excuse To Party!

Let's have some fun. First point - that image above that has been circulating the web is not Mayan. It's the Aztec sun calendar. (No, not the Oreo cookie, you silly thing!) If you're going to go all doomsday on everyone, at least get your cultures right.

Zombie apocalypses are very popular these days. I'm not sure why. Maybe because the worldwide economy is circling the drain people feel as if they're in survival mode. I'm really not a big one on zombies, although I have my favorite zombie movies like Zombieland, Fido, Shaun Of The Dead, and especially Braindead (Dead-Alive). When I first met my husband, I told him if he couldn't sit through Dead-Alive, we weren't meant to be together. He loved it! We watch it every year on our anniversary.

Most zombie stories are told from the point of view of the survivors. I wanted to try something a little different. My story Trailer Trash Zombies, which will appear in the anthology Midnight Movie Creature Feature 2 in 2013, is from the point of view of one of the zombies. Granted, he's not your ordinary, shuffling, drooling zombie. He's quite articulate and intelligent. Want to meet him? Here's an excerpt from my story:

I changed six months ago after hooking up with a really hot, tiny little Japanese zombie at an underground zombie bondage rave in Salem. Zombies I had met weren't stupid, numb louts that stumbled around deserted streets moaning to no one in particular and eating any flesh they could get hold of. Most of us were as intelligent as we were when we were alive, although our bodies were a bit worse for wear. We don't drool and moan or squeal for braaains, unless we were making a snot-nosed joke. I'd say the zombie outbreak in Massachusetts started just as summer heat was at its hottest, and the new comet Hawley-Schmidt was discovered streaking across the night sky. I guess we technically weren't zombies although everyone called us zombies for lack of a better word. We were more the walking dead left over from an extra-terrestrial viral outbreak of some sort but we roamed the streets day and night. We talked and fucked and some of us went to work every morning. We even voted. We were just… different.

Once word got out that the dead walked around Salem and Cambridge the hipsters wanted in on the new craze. Lots of humans went to zombie raves when they were lucky enough to find them, which was hard because zombies were so "don't ask, don't tell". They remained as hidden as they could, especially when news got out that another gang of rednecks cornered one and beat it until it was nearly more dead than it already was.

Zombies had a presence in Salem but the witches ran everything and they didn't care for the undead encroaching on their territory so the zombies kept a low profile. That Japanese zombie took a hefty chunk out of my shoulder when we were getting it on in a back room and the damned thing never did heal because my flesh is no longer amongst the living.  Corey and Mike were the only two people in Norwich who knew about my condition, and I thanked them frequently for keeping my secret. The last thing I needed were local vigilantes raiding my apartment and tossing my sorry ass out on the street, after burning everything I owned because they were afraid by merely standing within a few feet of a zombie they'd "catch" it.

I got the idea for this story from the craziness I've seen in the apartment complex where I live. We're looking for new digs. I live in a small, New England town with typical small town goofiness. Just last week, the police stopped by to help a guy get a squirrel out of his apartment. That's not to mention our former upstairs neighbors who had knock-down, drag-out fights all hours of the day and night. The police had been trying to catch him screwing up for months but they had nothing on him. Rumor was he was a meth dealer and she was a hooker. Great. I want out of here so badly I can taste it. If the end of the world was coming, this apartment complex is the first place that would show signs. 

The Mayan apocalypse is big news to everyone - except the Mayans. Yes, they still exist. They only laugh at us silly white people over our latest end-of-the-world prediction. The last one was the Rapture. I and lots of like-minded people held a Post-Rapture Looting Party the day after the Rapture was supposed to have happened. Before that, there was 6-6-6: June 6, 2006. The Mark Of The Beast made the calendar. Guess what happened that day? 

Nothing.

As far as I'm concerned, these apocalyptic warnings are just an excuse to party. Like I already said, in the summer of 2011, I and plenty of like-minded folk held a Post-Rapture Looting Party. Mine was on my wall on Facebook, and it was a huge success. This year, I'm holding a Post-Mayan Apocalypse Looting Party tomorrow, December 22, 2012 from noon EST until I drop. Head to my wall on Facebook and let's have a blast! Hang out, chat about Christmas, discuss the New Year's Resolutions you have no intention of keeping, talk about books, goof off, and have fun! BYOB. Here's my Facebook page. Everyone here is invited to my party.

Elizabeth Black - Facebook

I hope to see you there. Let's make the Mayan apocalypse a day no one will ever forget! Just don't tell the Mayans. They'll laugh at us even more. Considering the state of the world now, maybe it's best it all ends today. There is a world-wide financial crisis. Global warming. Honey Boo Boo. Sometimes it's just best to let things go. But if the world doesn't end today, don't forget my party tomorrow!

Zombies - Social Commentary From The Undead

Welcome Zombie Blog Hoppers! Just click on the image above to see the other blogs participating in this blog hop.

Zombies are more than slowly shuffling dead things. I get bored with the usual slow-moving critters that eat braaaaains! Here are a few unusual zombies that have interested me over the years:

Tombs Of The Blind Dead - Knights of the Templar zombies on horseback. Zombies don't get much more awesome than that.

Fido - Zombies as pets, friends, and servants. This one is a real testament to how poorly human beings treat each other. Beneath the cheery suburban smile is some seriously fucked up shit.

28 Days Later (and 28 Weeks Later) - fast-moving zombies. Plus it's a virus - the rage virus.

Then there are the twisted zombie movies (including the comedies):

Shaun Of The Dead - Sade got some free publicity with this one.

Zombieland - You will never look at Twinkies the same way ever again.

Deadgirl - Sick and twisted with necrophilia thrown in.

The comic and TV show "The Walking Dead" remain popular despite a lackluster second season. And why won't Carl stay in the house?

And this brings me to Braindead (aka Dead/Alive), my favorite zombie movie. When I first met my current husband, I told him if he couldn't sit through this movie, we were not meant to be together. Not only did he sit through it, he loved it! We watch it every year on our anniversary.

There are plenty of others I'm leaving out, but those are my favorites. Zombies are all the rage right now (pardon the pun). Why? They stand in for subjects we'd rather not talk about. Discrimination. The end of the world. The breakdown of the family. Class warfare. Foreseeing the sad end of Hostess. Where will we get our Twinkies now? That was a sign of the upcoming Mayan apocalypse if there ever was one. The zombies themselves aren't usually the focus of the story. The focus is the reaction of the survivors.

The movie American Zombie attracted my attention because it makes similar social commentary that I make in my short story Trailer Trash Zombies. The movie is a mockumentary studying various functioning types of zombies. It treats zombies as if they are a misunderstood and feared segment of the population that deserve political representation, social services, respect, and much more. My short story Trailer Trash Zombies takes a similar point of view. This story is due to appear in the Midnight Movie Creature Feature 2 anthology in 2013. It's about highly-functioning zombies and their experiences. Here's an excerpt to whet your appetite.

I changed six months ago after hooking up with a really hot, tiny little Japanese zombie at an underground zombie bondage rave in Salem. Zombies I had met weren't stupid, numb louts that stumbled around deserted streets moaning to no one in particular and eating any flesh they could get hold of. Most of us were as intelligent as we were when we were alive, although our bodies were a bit worse for wear. We don't drool and moan or squeal for braaains, unless we were making a snot-nosed joke. I'd say the zombie outbreak in Massachusetts started just as summer heat was at its hottest, and the new comet Hawley-Schmidt was discovered streaking across the night sky. I guess we technically weren't zombies although everyone called us zombies for lack of a better word. We were more the walking dead left over from an extra-terrestrial viral outbreak of some sort but we roamed the streets day and night. We talked and fucked and some of us went to work every morning. We even voted. We were just… different.

Once word got out that the dead walked around Salem and Cambridge the hipsters wanted in on the new craze. Lots of humans went to zombie raves when they were lucky enough to find them, which was hard because zombies were so "don't ask, don't tell". They remained as hidden as they could, especially when news got out that another gang of rednecks cornered one and beat it until it was nearly more dead than it already was.

Zombies had a presence in Salem but the witches ran everything and they didn't care for the undead encroaching on their territory so the zombies kept a low profile. That Japanese zombie took a hefty chunk out of my shoulder when we were getting it on in a back room and the damned thing never did heal because my flesh is no longer amongst the living.  Corey and Mike were the only two people in Norwich who knew about my condition, and I thanked them frequently for keeping my secret. The last thing I needed were local vigilantes raiding my apartment and tossing my sorry ass out on the street, after burning everything I owned because they were afraid by merely standing within a few feet of a zombie they'd "catch" it.

The world in general is in the midst of upheaval right now. There are violent protests in the Middle East. There is a world-wide recession. The U. S. is on the verge of civil war. "Dirty Jobs" has been cancelled, and Honey Boo Boo is a celebrity. The Mayan apocalypse is upon us, and some people are actually taking that tripe seriously. I wonder if there are scam artists organizations that for a fee will help you prepare your finances and such for the end of the world so that you may leave something for those who are left behind the way there were for the Rapture that never happened? Zombies are a catalyst for addressing our darkest fears by projecting them onto the living dead. In that sense, they serve a useful function. Think of it this way - zombies perform a useful public service. Through them, we confront our worst fears, and maybe we can find a good way to deal with them.