J. Elliott's Blog: News From the Lotus Lodge

Interview with Lara McAra on Fiction Writer’s Podcast– Sept 2024

I’m excited to be a guest on The Fiction Writer’s Podcast!

Hosted by Lana McAra, this podcast gives you powerful and easily actionable tips, tricks, and ideas for fiction that is #Unputdownable.My episode is called “Two Directions: Humorous and Spooky”. I can’t speak for Lana, but  I  sure had a blast. Once we got to talking, we were laughing and swapping stories about everything from writing styles to blurs between fiction and real life, to personal ghost stories.

You can find the episode right here: https://FictionWritersPodcast.com/j-elliott

After you listen, be sure to “LIKE”, “COMMENT” on, and “SHARE” this post. Be sure to subscribe to the show and share it with anyone who may benefit!

As mentioned in the podcast, book #4 is in the works. This time, Haint’s boyfriend, Buster is off at a Fortean convention in Idaho. {“Fortean” refers to Charles Fort, who like the better known Ripley, was intrigued by the unknown or unexplained from aliens and cryptids and supernatural events to frogs and fish raining from the sky.} A nearby VIP is killed and Buster is a main suspect. Haint hosts a group of mystery writers at her retreat. Hearing about Buster’s true crime case, they are eager to puzzle out who dunnit.

Interview with Caitlyn Adams February 2024

A discussion of Haint Blue’s Adventures.

Who is Haint Blue?

What is Haint Blue?

How are the “monkey” books different?

What’s next for Haint?

Interview with Caitlyn Adams in her shop Heart Mind Healing in Gainesville, Florida.

Wait… what’s with the portable outhouse? Find out in the interview!

Need crystals? Incense? Books? Yoga? Meditation? Check out Caitlyn’s shop Heart Mind Healing in Thornebrook Village in Gainesville: https://www.heartmindgnv.com/

Happy New Year 2024!

Apologies for the long silence. I started 2023 with enthusiasm, but am ending it like a marathon, feeling rather wiped out and disoriented. Refocusing and planning for a better 2024!

I’m not sure I ever mentioned here that our sweet boy, Crafty, was diagnosed with epilepsy 2 1/2 years ago. We found out that 1-3% of all dogs suffer this, with the onset between 3 and 5 years of age. He was 3 1/3 when he had his first seizure.

It was hard to look at an otherwise athletic and visibly healthy dog and make that awful decision, but I think if we could have seen the chaos in his brain…

He was the sweetest boy, an angel in fur, a bright beam of sunshine, a love muffin. He is greatly missed. His half-sister, Zloty is adjusting well, but it’s been a rough season for all of us.

From the start, we had problems. His episodes were not nicely controlled with one or two meds; in short order, he was reaching the maximum treatment available, and still having seizures once a month. We held steady for a while but in the autumn, we rapidly shifted from once a month to once a week, to daily, to no longer controllable. We lost him the night before Thanksgiving.

THE GOOD NEWS:

I am planning to attend the Sunshine State Book Festival in Gainesville, Florida at the end of January. Probably won’t have Jiko Bukken books, (remember, it is available on Kindle Vella) but will have copies of my short, funny, ghost story, “Lady Eleanor Hosts a Séance.”

I WILL have a booth at AtomaCon 2024 in Charleston, South Carolina. The special guest is local author, Grady Hendrix. Big fan! Very excited!

And my mannequin, Poinsettia, dressed as the demon from Jiko Bukken, will be joining me again at Deep South Paracomicon in Ozark, Alabama the first week of October 2024! We had a blast last year. Looking forward to it –bigger and better!

From Zloty, me, Haint, and all the other characters in my life–real and imagined–

Very best wishes for health, peace, joy, hope, prosperity and all good things for the New Year!

What’s Up?

I took a break after Haint Blue Christmas.

Have been focusing on Jiko Bukken, a ghost story novel set in Japan in the winter of 1992-3. Episodes are dropping every week on Kindle Vella:

Link to Vella:

https://tinyurl.com/yshv5dhb

But I’ve been thinking about Haint and Catfish Springs and where to go next.

I’ve GOT IT!

But lets’ do a quick review of what we’ve got so far:

Monkey Mind was modelled after a cozy mystery. Haint opened a meditation retreat in September 2014, thinking it would be all peace, love, and yoga, but instead, murder. Woopsie.

Monkey Heart picks up just after Monkey Mind. It’s now Halloween. Guests go missing. Murder again? How about French farce. Possibly funnier and definitely zanier than Monkey Mind.

By this time, we were in the throes of a pandemic. I felt we needed humor more than anything. HBC is just a Christmas candy–funny mayhem with a bit of mystery. Buster is incommunicado. Why? Where is he? And who keeps leaving mysterious presents for Haint?

So what’s next?

A locked-room mystery!

Meet Scruffy Nobthatcher.

He’s made a name for himself in the cryptozoology world, but not a good one. A master con artist who has been just lucky enough not to be exposed yet, he propounds wild claims and fakes evidence to the delight of his cult following. He’s a social media phenomenon. But those who know him, hate his guts.

He’s a headliner at a the Annual Cryptic Convention in Hog Wallow, Idaho.

Many of the other headliners would love to see him get taken out by a cryptid, and it seems their wishes come true. He’s found slashed in his booth.

Haint’s love interest, Buster is the prime suspect.

But how could it have happened? With only one door and people everywhere, how come no one saw his attack?

I’m reading up on the genre, and plotting!

Here’s the VIP room!

While Buster is stuck in jail, his assistant Selene will pass information along to Haint who happens to be hosting a group of mystery writers. These senior armchair detectives eagerly assist in the investigation.

Monkey Heart: Iggy’s Top Sobber Hits

In my second book, Monkey Heart, my brother Iggy has a bit of a breakdown. His old girlfriend, Running Deer sweeps back into town and asks if he’d take her back. This was after she turned down his marriage proposal and took off to find herself out west.

Oh, and she’s pregnant, but he’s not the father.

It’s a hot mess.

I find him sitting on the floor, in the dark, listening to every sad song I’ve ever heard.

Well.

A good friend suggested that I could put together a playlist.

Now, I think she was thinking about meditations–and I will, it’s a great idea! I’ve got lots of meditation music as well as guided meditations.

But Iggy’s Top Sobber Hits came to mind. (‘Cause I’m keen on 70s and 80s mush, too.)

Morning Meditations with Cow Patties

We enjoy our daily strolls much and I’ve gotten to really love this cow field. It’s nothing grand and yet ever changing. We’ve got three sandhill cranes who live nearby year round and deer that wander about. Sometimes cows, sometimes not. Bit of breeze, more so than in the woods.

Morning Meditation

At first glance, an empty field.

An empty field haphazardly filled with cow patties like a drunken checkerboard.

As always, so much that came before.

A leaf falls.

Distant rooster crows.

Flock of birds silently swoop by.

Way in the distance, the gray sandhills drop from the gray sky and casually stroll.

A leaf falls.

Birds twitter nearby.

A couple miles away, the Most Disgruntled Employee, an eighteen wheeled rig complains along the interstate.

The cow patties rest. Or do they?

Perhaps under each pile, a crew of dung beetles like Snow White’s comrades, is whistling while they work their pickaxes.

Or humming.

Or meditating.

Some heaps resemble sand castles; others quite symmetrically round.

The cows are in another pasture this morning, doing their cow things.

Yesterday seven calves, shoulder to shoulder, awaited–what?

A photo shoot?

Oranges?

No doubt, I disappointed.

Breeze swings a tendril of Spanish moss.

The sandhills have disappeared behind the red tractor.

(Yes, WCW, so much depends on that red tractor, too, we know.)

Dragonfly lands on the barbed wire.

A leaf falls.

Haint’s Halloween Picks

Boo!

Thought I’d toss out a random selection of offerings for this Halloween weekend: some funny ones, some spooky, some downright cheesy. Wow. this took a while. Made it to 15, in no particular order. Have you seen them all?

Young Frankenstein (1987) Gene Wilder, Terri Garr, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Madeleine KahnHilarious homage to the classic Frankenstein films, essentially, a full-length film loaded with memorable lines. A must see if you haven’t seen it before; a must see again if you have.

The ‘Burbs (1989) Tom Hanks, Carrie Fisher, Bruce Dern, Corey Feldmandirected by Joe DanteComedy horrorFunny film about suspicious neighbors in a cul-de-sac. Could watch this again and again. Even the soundtrack is perfection.

What We Do in the Shadows (2014)Comedy horrorWritten by/Directed by/ Starring Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi Hilarious mockumentary about the day to day life of a flat of vampires.

The Lost Boys (1987)Directed by Joel SchumakerComedy horrorJason Patric, Dianne Wiest, Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, Keiffer SutherlandA single mom with two boys moves to a small town in California. Her older son soon falls in with the wrong crowd, a band of vampires. Great fun with a rocking soundtrack. Troll Hunter (2010)Directed by André ØvredalOtto Jespersen, Glenn Erland Tosterud, Johanna Mørck, Tomas Alf Larsen(Norwegian with subtitles)An investigation into bear attacks takes a wild turn as a group of student documentarians uncover a secret. If you watch the trailer, this may look violent or scary; it has its moments, but is mostly a funny thrill ride. Maybe all that old folklore wasn’t just made up stories afterall. Carnival of Souls (1964)Directed by Herk HarveyCandace HilligossUnscary but atmospheric horror/drama –final scenes quite memorable… Some find this film too sluggish. It is a slow-burner with a dreamlike feel to it. A woman is involved in a car crash. She recovers and stumbles around in a disoriented state, feeling a strange gravitation to a theme park on a wharf. I would highly recommend seeing the film AND the making of it documentary that comes with the DVD. The back story about the filming and location add to the weirdness of the film itself. The gorgeous carnival burned down not long after filming –the second massive fire on the wharf… This was Candace Holligoss’s only film. Now a cult classic, it was not an immediate hit… A must see if you like artsy-fartsy films. HOUSE (HAU-SU) 1977Nobuhito KobayashiThis must be seen with the making-of documentary as the back story is essentially complementary to the film itself. This experimental director asked his daughter what scared her. She told him. The result is a scary film for children with homemade special effects, pop music, cartoon segments… it’s weird, creepy, funny, and totally unlike anything else– quite groundbreaking for its time. Therapy for a Vampire (2014)Director:  David RuhmAnatole Taubman, Tobias Moretti, Dominic Oley, Cornelia IvancanJust discovered this one! Trailer looks super fun– lush comedy. Just ordered. Should be here on Halloween! Woot! Premise–this vampire has been married for a couple hundred years and the marriage has gotten stale. The Count goes in for some therapy… Skeleton Key (2010) Directed by Iain SoftleyKate Hudson, Peter SaarsgardI worried that this was going to be too scary for me when I first watched it. Nope. Sucked me in right away and I was hooked. Right to the wild ending. Perfect for folks who have a lower threshold for scary but still want to get the creeps.

The Sixth Sense (1999) Written/Directed by M. Night Shyamalan Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni ColletteIs it possible that you haven’t seen this? Terrific film about a young boy and a therapist, each working through issues. Some spooky moments but all in all, not very scary, but with a whopping twist. Brilliant film. The Legacy (1978)Directed by Richard MarquandSam Elliott, Katherine Ross, Charles Gray, Margaret TyzackMy favorite 70s horror film. An American woman is summoned to a homestead home in England where relatives she hardly knew she had are gathered together. The patriarch is dying; only one can inherit. But what is the inheritance? Creepy low budget with some memorable lines and moments. You can try to run away, but all roads lead right back to the mansion. Bonus: Rather remarkably, the film is very true to the book. Shadow of the Vampire (2010)Director: E. Elias MurhigeJohn Malkovitch, Willem DafoeNot scary but atmospheric, more drama than horror with bits of comedy, this is a favorite of mine. The premise: what if the vampire in the original Nosferatu film was real? It’s a problem when your lead actor wants to eat the film crew… KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park (1978)Director: Gordon HesslerGene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss, Ace Frehley, Anthony Zerbe as “Abner Devereaux”

Okay, no this isn’t a great, must-see film. I was just wondering if you were paying attention. It’s super campy and actually the reason that I became a KISS fan. I mean, come on, this is CHEESY. If they can laugh at themselves, well, as always, Gene can laugh his way to the bank. It’s a cult classic. Dare I admit that I’ve seen it quite a few times? Favorite scene: the unpleasant bikers going through the house of horrors. Dee, Chopper, and Slime get their comeuppance. Peter Criss gets a nice “Beth” solo. KISS saves the day, defeating robots made to replace them.

Midnight Lace (1968)Directed by David MillerDoris Day, Rex Harrison, Roddy McDowellI’ve done a fuller review of this already, but if you want a spooky thriller, this one isn’t scary but quite atmospheric. Someone is stalking the recently wed Mrs. Preston but no one believes her. Rex Harrison was deliberately frosty to Doris Day, who had a nervous breakdown on film for real, having been in an abusive relationship herself. It was the only scary movie she ever acted in.

Coraline (2009)Directed by Henry Sellick/Written by Neil GaimanHorror/Fantasy cartoon for kids but quite creepyBig ol’ weenie me, discovered this film fairly recently. Was surprised at how unsettling this is. Guess today’s kids are jaded so this isn’t scary. The gist of the story is that a young girl, whose family recently moved, discovers a door in the new house that leads to an alternate universe.

A Kind of Murder (2016)

I was in the mood for a mystery thriller and this one fit the bill in some ways while missing it in others. The film is based on the novel The Blunderer written by Patricia Highsmith in 1954. Highsmith is also known for writing The Talented Mr. Ripley and episodes of Armchair Detective, Tales of the Unexpected, Chillers, and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and that’s a small portion of her writing credits.

The plot is contrived; the ending–well, let’s say not entirely satisfying.

I’d give it three monkeys but for the acting and period design which are both excellent and bump it to a 4-monkey rating.

Patrick Wilson and Jessica Biel are the leads, as Mr. and Mrs. Stackhouse. They are perfect in their oddities and dysfunction alone and together. She’s unhappy, neurotic, suspicious, which pushes him inevitably towards the beautiful and available young Haley Bennet who is terrific as Stackhouse’s girlfriend.

I’m surprised that Eddie Marsan (I knew him from the series Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell) did not get top billing too, as he is a scene stealer, in my opinion, holding back a world of malice behind his glasses.

Mr. Stackhouse is a successful architect who writes crime stories in his free time. His hobby is collecting true crime articles for reference. Things go south quickly when his own wife is found dead at the scene of a recent murder and it becomes apparent that Mr. Stackhouse had previously gone to meet the key suspect. It’s possible Mrs. Stackhouse killed herself, but an obsessed cop is not so sure. Stackhouse is a terrible liar. It was unclear to me why he seems to deliberately make people more suspicious of him. His obsession with the murder and the creepy Mr. Kimmel only makes the cop more anxious to prove him guilty.

Have to assume they intended the play on meaning with the title: a kind-of murder or a type of murder? Did he kill his wife? This title works better for me than The Blunderer for sure.

Honestly, the ending doesn’t quite do it for me, BUT overall, the film kept me guessing. I loved the noir-ish atmosphere. The characters are complicated. Even though I wasn’t enamored with any of them–oh, hold up, I take that back–the girlfriend is likeable–but there was enough mystery to keep me engaged.

I give it four monkeys!

Rainy Days Bring Mushrooms

Living out in the woods, I delight in the ephemeral nature of and variety of mushrooms that abound. They push forth with determination and are gone almost before I can go fetch a camera. On my list to learn more about them and identify them.

This tree came down a few years ago. Standing next to it, the top of it is almost hip height to me and runs half the length of the immediate back yard. Fortunately, it didn’t fall on anything, so there was absolutely no urgency to do anything about it. We cleared around it and left it. The dogs thought it was a great obstacle course challenge. Bugs got to it. Woodpeckers and armadillos dug into it. See how light the soil is around it? Well, three years on, it has decayed quite a bit and it is making the most outstanding mulch and soil, rich and dark.

Same tree now, as seen from opposite end.
It has been fascinating watching its decay and observing all the life that this dead tree has supported.

My Cousin Rachel (1952) Olivia de Haviland/Richard Burton

I have a confession. I’ve never read any Daphne du Maurier. I plan to remedy this soon. She concocts impressive plots and they’ve been made into legendary films.

Saw Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963) as a kid of course; fabulous.

Don’t Look Now (1974) with Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie, well, wow. A fine example of how parents had no idea what we kids were watching. I saw it as a young teen and it scared me silly. It remains one of the weirdest movies that I like. Haunting. Dreamlike. Creepy. I recently got the book, but haven’t gotten to it yet. Eager to know how true to the book the film was. It’s high on the to-read-next-pile.

Rebecca (1940) with Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine, and a small part by George Sanders who is so much fun to dislike. Also a Hitchcock classic. Perfection.

But last night, watched My Cousin Rachel for the first time. Had never heard of it! How is that possible? Wowee. In the gothic tradition of Rebecca, but directed by David O. Selznick, it should stand firmly with the greats, Rebecca (1940; Wuthering Heights (1939); Laura (1944) Clifton Webb, Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney; and Gaslight (1944) Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotton, Charles Boyer.

The plot is simple enough: a young man (Richard Burton) is raised by his devoted uncle, Ambrose Ashley. His uncle leaves for Italy, but does not return as planned, instead, he marries a distant cousin and remains in Italy. Not long after, the nephew receives two letters indicating that the uncle is unwell and suggests that his wife is killing him. The nephew packs off to Italy only to arrive too late, the uncle has just died and his wife has vacated their home.

It’s all very suspicious. The nephew vows to get revenge. All seems straightforward until he meets his cousin Rachel; she is not at all the gold-digging viper he imagined.

Or is she?

Don’t want to give too much away. This film grabbed me and kept me guessing. Just love it!

And check out how young Richard Burton was! “Introducing Richard Burton!”

The stunning film is in black and white. The cinematography is gorgeous. The acting is superb–and it really was acting, as they seem to have convincing chemistry when in real life Burton had issues with his prima donna leading lady.

Check out the trailer!

https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2525217561/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_4

As with all films it seems, there has been a remake and even a TV mini series. Can’t speak to them; haven’t seen them. Well worth a gander at this original. Atmospheric, and I’ve heard, Burton portrayed a more refined Philip than Daphne du Maurier created. Not surprising.

I loved this film!FIVE MONKEYS!