Trailer Trash! Clive Barker Edition...

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Ray Bradbury 1920-2012

"Ray Bradbury wrote three great novels and three hundred great stories. One of the latter was called 'A Sound of Thunder.' The sound I hear today is the thunder of a giant's footsteps fading away. But the novels and stories remain, in all their resonance and strange beauty." - Stephen King

"The landscape of the world we live in would have been diminished if we had not had him in our world." - Neil Gaiman

If you're a genre fan, chances are you've been reading a lot of obituaries of Ray Bradbury over the past few days since last Tuesday, June 5, when the titan of science fiction literature was taken from us at the age of 91. There can be no doubt that he was one of, if not the single greatest creator of speculative fiction produced by the 20th century, and along with the likes of Clarke, Asimov and Heinlein, one of the unassailable legends of the Golden Age of Science Fiction. And he was the last of them, which made his passing that much more painful.

I'm not going to cover all the ground that's been covered by so many others in the past week. For the purposes of this blog, I'm going to talk a little bit about Bradbury's ventures into the realm of horror in particular. Although best known for his sci-fi, the author did indeed also have a great love for its more visceral, emotion-based cousin genre. In fact, it was from the works of Edgar Allan Poe that a very young Bradbury was first opened up to the power of genre fiction while nurturing his love of reading in the public library of Waukegan, Illinois. Yet another defining moment was his parents taking him to see Lon Chaney in The Hunchback of Notre Dame as a small child.

Like Victor Hugo, Bradbury would also come to have his works adapted for the screen in later years--both big and small. Some of the more prominent adaptations would be derived from his works of horror--most notably the 1962 novel Something Wicked This Way Comes, which was turned into one of the most chilling horror films of the 1980s. But his relationship with the movies began even earlier, in 1953, and was connected with his horror dalliances more than anything else.

A scene directly inspired by Bradbury's short story.

It was in that year that not one, but two Bradbury-related projects would be brought to the movies. Both could be termed sci-fi horror, tying back into the writer's area of true expertise. The first would his film treatment, "Atomic Monster", which producer William Alland developed into the 3-D classic, It Came from Outer Space. A mere three weeks later, Bradbury's dear friend Ray Harryhausen would make a name for himself with the release of the seminal giant monster flick, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, based loosely on Bradbury's 1951 short story, "The Fog Horn".

The Bradbury/Harryhausen friendship would become the stuff of genre legend (the two first met at the age of 18 at the home of none other than Forrest J. Ackerman), as would the sci-fi scribe's early association with comic strip icon Charles Addams. Before there was an Addams Family, Bradbury and Addams collaborated in the 1940s on a series of comically macabre stories revolving around a family called The Elliotts--collected in the 2001 volume, From the Dust Returned.

One of the EC issues featuring Bradbury's work.

In the early 1950s, more than 20 Bradbury stories would be adapted in the pages of EC Comics such as Tales from the Crypt and The Haunt of Fear. One short story in particular, "I Sing the Body Electric," would become the basis for the 100th episode of The Twilight Zone, aired in May 1962. He also directly wrote the screenplays for a total of five episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Ray Bradbury was a shining light in the firmament of sci-fi, fantasy and horror. He was one of the last living connections to a truly amazing era in speculative fiction, and as The New York Times observed, may have been the one author most responsible for bringing science fiction into the mainstream. A giant of imaginative literature, he will be missed by fans of horror who have come to love and be inspired by his many fascinating forays into our genre.

 

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VAULTCAST! Exclusive Interview w/Best-Selling Dark Fantasy & Paranormal Fiction Writer Leanna Renee Hieber!

About a year ago, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting one of the true rising stars of dark fantasy and paranormal fiction, novelist Leanna Renee Hieber, through a mutual friend, KT Grant of the superb blog Babbling About Books and More. Since then, I've wanted to have her as a guest in the Vaultcast, and I finally did so just a few weeks ago. The result is posted here for your enjoyment, and I apologize in advance for getting it posted so late. Alas, such is the dilemma of a hyper-busy Vault Keeper.

Known for her Strangely Beautiful series, which has already been optioned as a musical theatre production, Ms. Hieber is now launching a brand new series that is sure to soon be the talk of dark fantasy and gothic young adult fiction circles: Magic Most Foul. Steeped in a deep appreciation of history and literature, she is a genre writer who is refreshingly proud of being a genre writer, and it was a real treat speaking with her.

So listen in as we chat about her work, as well as various literary and cultural non-sequiturs along the way. You can either listen on the embedded player below, or proceed to the Vaultcast page and download it for listening at your leisure...



Pre-order signed copies of Darker Still: A Novel of Magic Most Foul!

Leanna Renee Hieber's website

Leanna Renee Hieber on Facebook

Leanna Renee Hieber on Twitter

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VAULT VLOG: Exclusive Interview with Author Kim Paffenroth

Happy Holidays, Vault dwellers! Been sitting on this one for a little bit, but this is as good a time as any to unleash it upon you (translation: It's the holiday week, and I'm feeling lazy.) Last month at the Hudson Horror Show, I had a unique opportunity to interview religious scholar, novelist, zombie aficionado and fellow League of Tana Tea Drinkers member, Dr. Kim Paffenroth. It was a thrill to speak to a writer whose work I've admired so much, and so I present to you the interview in its entirety. Special thanks to my Terror Team cohort Captain Cruella, for the bang-up camerawork! And please try to ignore that annoying dude out-of-frame loudly ordering lunch on his phone...

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Vault Exclusive! Interview with Estevan Vega, Author of Arson

If the path he's on is any indication, there may come a day when Estevan Vega is too big a deal to grant interviews to sites like this one. But at the moment, on his rise up the blood-soaked ladder of horror fiction success, I had a rare opportunity to sit down and speak with the young man, thanks to Vault contributor Marilyn Merlot, who first brought Vega to my attention and made this interview possible.

A fellow resident of the state of Connecticut, Vega has been writing since childhood, and in fact the work that would become his first published novel, Servant of the Realm, was begun at the age of 12. Since then, he has published the dark, psychological thriller The Sacred Sin, and the 21-year-old's third novel to date, Arson, published this past May. Find out more about Vega, Arson, and his other books at the author's official website.

What first inspired you to want to become a writer? Was horror always the genre you were interested in getting into?
My dad has been a huge inspiration for me. If it weren't for my father, Joe Vega, I wouldn't be a writer. He actually pulled me away from the television when I was in fifth grade and helped me write my first short story, which my teacher ended up giving me an A for. It was sick! I started to enjoy writing these stories, and the grades rocked. It was just awesome to have someone want to read something that I had written. So I decided to start writing a book. I thought, "Why not?" I have always flirted that line between horror and the supernatural. I really like doing that. When I go into a book or into a movie, I love that unsettled feeling right in your gut, so I try to emulate that in my writing. Am I horror? Hmmm... Am I real? Hmmm... Am I a writer who loves both and also gets stoked for the supernatural? Oh, yes!

What writers in particular did you look up to or enjoy reading and why?
Stephen King. He is kinda the guy to aim for as far as being a writer. I also really enjoyed stuff by Edgar Allen Poe and Ray Bradbury. I like Ted Dekker... he can write some eerie stuff sometimes. I try to get into a bunch of writers, because it allows me to get new concepts, try different perspectives and so on. Each writer has something to say, and it's cool to bounce around. But I always looked up to King. He's just accomplished so much in his lifetime. Oh, yeah...I'm jealous.

Talk about the genesis of your very first novel and how you got yourself published.
I started Servant of the Realm when I was 12. I had this crazy idea that I'd be famous by the time I hit prom. I was ridiculous. But I was set to change the world with my words. I ended up working on that, and a few drafts later had a book I wanted to actually see in print. So I just started submitting it places and published it with the first person to say they liked it. Maybe not the smartest choice, but you live and you learn, right? Since then it's been a crazy six years.

How useful has the internet been in growing a fan base and getting the word out?
Immensely important. The internet has helped me spread the word about myself using a website, Facebook, Twitter. I've also done interviews like this and with internet radio, and blog tours... none of that would be possible. It's allowed me to get people from around the country and around the world to hear about Arson and about me. It's been a sick tool in spreading the fire! Plus, email and the social networking sites allow me to connect directly with my readers in a way that just ten years ago might not have been possible.

What themes are important to you in your fiction?
Regret. Loss. Love. Fear. Redemption. All of my books deal with these in one way or another.

How would you say your latest book, Arson, is different from your previous work?
Very different but very similar. You can still tell it's me writing it, for those who've read either Servant of the Realm or The Sacred Sin. But the writing has just improved. I've learned a lot in the few years since my last book. I focused intensely on the characters in Arson, more so than I've ever done before. The people are far more important than the situations they face, though those situation do play a role in defining who they are. But I suppose where the three books stray from one another most would be the mood. It's a very slow burn kind of sensation that you'll get while reading Arson. One of those feelings that you're not sure why you're getting that way or where it's coming from, but it stays with you. It's real. I love that. Arson's also my first book to take place in Connecticut, which is cool.

What would you most compare it to? How would you describe it to someone who knew nothing about it?
It's been compared to Firestarter, Twilight, Jumper, Odd Thomas. A lot of people are really getting into it. If you haven't had a chance to check it out, you gotta. It's a cool story. Arson is basically a story about a boy who is trying to grow up. He's struggling with the pressures of maturity, but also coping with the fact that he can start fires with his mind. In some ways, it's a typical story about a boy who has a crush on the hot girl he can't get... but it goes so much deeper than that, it really does. It's got a bit for everybody: boy with superpowers, chick with a mask, psychotic grandmother, and a whole lot of family dysfunction.

Do you have any interest in your work being adapted into movies?
Are you serious? Of course. A few people have shown some interest, but I'm just waiting for the right deal. The book's only been out about 2 months, so I can wait for the phone to ring a bit more. But yeah, Arson would be a sick movie. I have always envisioned my books as movies.

What do you think of the state of horror fiction today?
I think it's a bit splintered. There are people still doing it and doing it well, but even King has broken off the beaten path some to explore other styles of writing, as Anne Rice has done, and I think that's great. Splintered is okay. I do think that horror can be experienced in many different ways, though. Something doesn't have to jump out and make you crap your pants in order to be horrifying, and that's the beauty of writing. You can literally horrify someone and not even be classified as a horror writer, but then you can spook someone only a little and everybody freaks out.

If you could give any advice to aspiring horror fiction writers, what would it be?
Just freakin' write. If you're passionate about something, it'll show. Study other writers. Know your competition and the market. Think about what terrifies you and see if you can make somebody else feel that same feeling. And... burn something.

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Exclusive Interview: Author and Film Buff Ron Hogan Talks '70s Horror

I've mentioned it on here before, but Ron Hogan's The Stewardess Is Flying the Plane is one of my favorite books on cinema, in no small part because it deals with my favorite era in cinema, the 1970s. Hogan is an influential force in the literary blogosphere, having founded the groundbreaking book website/blog Beatrice.com in 1995, and currently earning his keep as director of e-marketing strategy for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Mr. Hogan was recently kind enough to sit down and answer some questions I posed to him about the movie era we both love so much, the '70s. In particular, given the nature of this blog, I thought it might be a worthy idea to focus on the horror films of the '70s in particular. I'll always have a soft spot for that decade in horror filmmaking, and having read Mr. Hogan's book, I figured he'd have a lot of interesting things to say on the topic. Turns out, I was right.

I happen to be a big fan of the '70s era of film in general, which is what attracted me to your book. What is it about that decade that really distinguishes it in cinema history, and made you want to focus on it in the first place?
I was inspired by Peter Biskind's Easy Riders, Raging Bulls--basically, if that book was about a handful of directors who transformed Hollywood, I wanted to know, well, what did the rest of
Hollywood end up looking like? And it turns out to be a quite fascinating period: The studios' motives for hiring young directors like Altman, Bogdanovich and Coppola may have been largely financial, but they (and many others like them) played an important part in making the counterculture of the late 1960s the mainstream culture of the 1970s.

You devote a chapter in your book to the horror genre. What place do you feel it had in that whole era? What part did it play? How would you characterize the effect on the genre caused by the new-found freedom of this era in terms of what you could get away with depicting?
The elimination of the Production Code in the late 1960s is absolutely essential to horror's development in the 1970s, and you see a lot of envelope-pushing throughout the decade, as filmmakers see just how explicit they can make scenes. You only have to look at the use of
tension and indirection in, say, a Val Lewton-produced film of the 1940s like Cat People, then compare it to the spectacular gory deaths of The Omen and Damien: Omen II to see the shift in emphasis.
Horror tends to take a back seat in most considerations of 1970s film; it's not a genre of Academy-recognized serious message films, nor a genre of all-access blockbusters like Star Wars or Jaws. But it was a consistently popular genre--look at how many horror films from the
1970s have been remade in the last decade, and you'll understand how these films wedged themselves into our popular imagination.

What would you say are the most important horror films of the era and why? How about the most important directors?
Most of my answers are the fairly obvious ones: Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist for pushing horror into the mainstream, directors like George Romero and Tobe Hooper for their maverick ambitions. I would like to see greater recognition for Larry Cohen--God Told Me To is
one of the most unsettling films of the entire decade.
And although it's a TV-movie, Steven Spielberg's Duel reminds us that he learned a lot about cinematic storytelling from horror movies, and what he learned about pacing and tension is used to masterful effect later on in the decade in Jaws and Close Encounters.

Do you think there was still a stigma at that time with regards to horror, or was it becoming more mainstream?
Probably a bit of both, actually: Horror WAS becoming more mainstream, but there was still a critical stigma attached to the genre, not least of all because it was one that was frequently imitated on the cheap. (Which is the same reason it took blaxploitation films, for example,
to gain enduring respect as anything more than time-period artifacts.)

What was it that led so many filmmakers to explore such intense and disturbing themes at this point in movie history? What kind of an effect, if any, would you say that horror cinema had on non-horror film during the 1970s? Taxi Driver, for example, almost feels like a horror film at times!
It was an intense and disturbing time in American history, that's the main thing--and, as I mentioned earlier, the removal of the Production Code meant that filmmakers could be more explicit, whatever they were trying to say, and they didn't have to tack on a moralistic or happy ending to make everything alright in the final reel. The pervasive loss of faith in major institutions, from the government on down, plays perfectly into horror's unsettling of the normal world, and vice versa. The visual tropes of horror were a perfect mirror for the psychological fear and uncertainty of 1970s America.

Let's talk about The Exorcist. Most consider it the finest horror film of this era (or perhaps any). Would you agree, and why do you think this opinion is so commonly held? I'd agree, because William Friedkin, working off the William Peter Blatty screenplay, works from fundamental premises: We care about the film because we care about the characters. Father Damien's crisis of faith matters to us; the visual spectacles of Regan's torment resonate more because we've come to recognize her as a character, not simply a victim of horror pyrotechnics. The film isn't a roller-coaster ride through a series of horrific set-pieces; it's a serious story that
happens to have horrific elements perfectly integrated into its emotional core.

Why was Satanism such a prevalent theme in 1970s horror?
Again, the removal of the Production Code explains a lot, but it's also worth noting the general apocalyptic tone of the Cold War era was an effective breeding ground for a "God vs. Satan" mythology. Throw in a tireless self-promoter like Anton LaVey pressing at the fringes of
Hollywood society, and the rise of explicit Satanism as a metaphor for the pervasive corruption of American society becomes a lot clearer.

Whats your opinion on the slasher phenomenon, and why do you think it arose at that particular point in time with a movie like Halloween?
When I mentioned horror films as "a roller-coaster ride through a series of horrific set-pieces" up above, I had the worst knock-offs of the slasher film in mind. Not so much Halloween--which, like most of John Carpenter's work in this period, is a testament to what a determined filmmaker can achieve on a limited budget--but dozens of films that came afterwards, where everybody comes into the theater not only knowing they're going to see a string of brutal murders, but
cheering for them. To me, I'm not even sure that's really horror--more like bread and circuses.

How would you compare the horror of the 1970s, in terms of what came after, in the 1980s and 1990s? It seems to me they became a bit more light-hearted in the '80s, and then much tamer in the '90s.
That sounds about right to me--I didn't watch much horror in the 1990s, but I firmly remember the increasing ridiculousness of '80s horror, particularly the franchises where, as I complained above, a bunch of cardboard cutouts get killed in visually extravagant ways and then maybe evil gets pushed back into its box at the end or maybe it slinks away to kill another day.

Any future projects you might want to let my readers know about?
I've been thinking a lot about action films lately...

I want to thank Ron Hogan for taking some time out to discuss one of my favorite topics. I hope you enjoyed our little talk, and if you're a fan of 1970s film in general, I encourage you to have a look at The Stewardess Is Flying the Plane. You can also follow Ron on Twitter here.

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Barnes & Noble Lets You Talk to Anne Rice

Barnes & Noble will be doing something very special tomorrow for fans of the most important vampire novelist since Bram Stoker. And yes, I'm talking about Anne Rice, not what's-her-name. The author of Interview with the Vampire, Queen of the Damned and the rest of the Vampire Chronicles, as well as the Witches of Mayfair series and many other books, will be stopping by B&N's Facebook page tomorrow to chat online with her fans.

The live chat will take place from 1pm-5:30pm EST. Visitors must go to this thread link to participate. For more info on the event itself, the Facebook event page is right here.

Rice is promoting her new novel, Angel Time, which is the beginning of her new Songs of the Seraphim series. The series looks to be a combination of her past in thrillers and her more recent religious-themed work.

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Stephen King Picks His Ten Favorite Movies of 2008

The ever-eccentric and mind-bogglingly prolific Stephen King has selected his suitably eccentric ten best film picks for the past year. As part of his regular column for Entertainment Weekly, Maine's master of the macabre has selected a batch of flicks ranging from the expected to the... well, unexpected, to say the least:

1. The Dark Knight
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. WALL-E
4. Tropic Thunder
5. Funny Games
6. The Bank Job
7. Lakeview Terrace
8. The Ruins
9. Redbelt
10. Death Race

Not that he's expected to only like horror movies, but for the record, it's worth noting that King chose Funny Games and The Ruins as his only two horror picks. His top four are solid, and I'd agree, for the most part (although I haven't seen Slumdog Millionaire yet). From there it gets... kind of... quirky...?

Anyway, if you'd like to read the author's own explanations for his choices, check it out on EW.com.

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Anne Rice Speaks Out on Being a Total Nutcase

In a way, I'm a lot luckier than most fans of Anne Rice. I have never quite gotten around to finishing her complete series of vampire novels, and so I have a lot more to enjoy despite the fact that Rice has abandoned writing about the undead to focus on writing about Jesus Christ. As for the rest of her fan base, they've been about as pissed off as Queen Akasha at that Vampire Lestat concert ever since the author re-embraced her Catholicism and became a Christian writer.

Rice has been no stranger to eccentric behavior over the years. She bad-mouthed the film version of her first vampire novel, only to take out a full-page New York Times ad praising it and apologizing. She lashed out furiously on Amazon.com against readers who had maligned her final vampire chronicle, The Blood Canticle. And most recently, she contemplated writing another vamp book in which her hero Lestat himself becomes a practicing Christian. Her once loyal fans heaved a collective sigh when she abandoned that ill-advised idea.

Yesterday, Rice gave a rare interview to ScotlandonSunday in an effort to promote her new memoir Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession--the book the New York Times described as "a crashing, mind-numbing bore... the literary equivalent of waterboarding."

"Not all my fans like my new work," Rice explains. "But I had a wonderful letter from one recently who said, 'Now I understand, your characters were searching, they were lost and looking for a way back to God.'"

This opinion is not shared by the many former readers who now consider her to be a total fruit loop. Some have even gone so far as to say that her complete 180 reversal has tainted her previous series, The Chronicles of the Vampires and The Mayfair Witches. While that would be taking it a bit far, it's also fair to say that Ms. Rice has always been a few pints low--this recent transformation is just the latest manifestation of her creepy cat-ladyness.

"It was a delayed adolescent rebellion," Rice says of the youthful rejection of the Catholic Church that led her to become a writer of erotica and horror. "I wanted to be bohemian, smoke Camel cigarettes, wear black gloves and know what the modern world was. I felt that if I couldn't be a good Catholic, there couldn't be a God. It was a tragic mistake."

It's ironic that Rice discovered her "tragic mistake" only after making a king's ransom from the hundreds of millions of copies of novels sold to the kind of adoring readership 99% of writers only dream of attracting.

"I'm writing a variety of Christian books, some of which might be appealing to fans of my early work," she says. "In the future, I want to write books about Christmas; Christmas books in the sense of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol; books about early Christianity when people were struggling in the Roman Empire in the early church. I grew up with Ben Hur. I'd love to write a big book like that. I'd love to write a book and have Hollywood make a movie of it, like Gladiator but about Christianity."

If all this is giving you the douche chills, you're not the only one. Look, I don't begrudge Rice her epiphany. But let's call a spade a spade here. Clearly, the woman has been through a lot of pain in recent years, with the loss of her husband and the ravaging effects of Hurricane Katrina, among other things. So she's sought solace in safety, in the world that once represented all that was stable in her young life. But let's at least recognize it for that. And in doing so, I can't help but mourn the loss of a great creative mind to the frailty of the human psyche.

I can't be angry with her the way many other fans are. I interpret this as a sign of weakness, no doubt about it--but I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't point that we're all weak to one extent or another. We haven't walked in her shoes, and we can't know what truly motivated her to this point. I guess I just expected better from someone who once produced such a rich, evocative and subversive fictional world. True, her vampire series was erratic, particularly towards the end, but I always enjoyed losing myself in that world, nonetheless. Maybe it's for the best, as there seemed no escaping their continuing downturn in quality.

But don't let that put you off enjoying the books she already has out there. Then you'd be just as irrational and flaky as she is.

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Michael Crichton 1942-2008

Although his most notable work is best classified as sci-fi/action, Michael Crichton was a novelist and screenwriter who commonly incorporated strong horror elements in his fiction. He also pioneered the subgenre of medical/technological horror with such books and screenplays as The Andromeda Strain and Westworld, and later Jurassic Park, Prey and Next, among others.

Crichton was among genre fiction's most influential and high-profile authors, with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Robert Wise, Barry Levinson and Jan de Bont among the directors who have adapted some 13 of his novels to the screen. Crichton was also an accomplished director himself, helming several films based on his own novels, as well as the 1978 movie Coma, based on the novel of another medical horror luminary, Robin Cook.

A former medical student himself, Crichton was also the creator of the hospital TV drama ER, now in its 15th and final season, and once the highest-rated hour-long on television.

Crichton died yesterday at the age of 66, after a long, private struggle with cancer.

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