Amanda Desiree's Blog, page 2
May 13, 2024
Top Three Reads of 2023 at Shepherd.com
Recently, the great folks at Shepherd.com invited me to create a new book list, this time for my favorite three books read during the past year. You can see which ones I chose here:
https://shepherd.com/bboy/2023/f/amanda-trujillo
Here is the list of all authors' overall favorite reads for the year : https://shepherd.com/bboy/2023
Shepherd.com features many themed lists to help readers find recommendations from their favorite genres or see what favorite authors are reading. Check it out and see what you can find to read next.
May 3, 2024
And the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award Winners Are . . .
The winners of the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards were announced on April 30th. The awards themselves will be given at a ceremony on June 1st during WonderFest in Louisville, KY.
https://rondoaward.com/rondoaward.com/blog/
I am honored that In the Shadow of the Skull was a runner-up for the "Best Classic Monster Fiction" category. Many thanks to everyone who voted! A hearty congratulations to the winners, runners-up, and honorably mentioned.
April 26, 2024
Webster Fun Facts
Though Webster is a work of fiction and many details sprang from my wild imagination, I tried to incorporate realistic touches as much as possible to enhance the atmosphere of the story. For example. . .
Most of the studies performed at CSAM are based on real experiments described in the book A Brief History of Vice: How Bad Behavior Built Civilization by Robert Evans.
In the text of his book, Reid refers to a famous photograph of Smithy taken by Ben Martin, a real-life photographer whose work appeared in Life magazine. At one time, Martin was married to "Dark Shadows" actress Kathryn Leigh Scott.
Jim Jones really did have a pet chimpanzee who died at the Jonestown compound along with Jones's human followers. While writing my Smithy duology, I happened to be reading The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and People's Temple by Jeff Gunn, and was surprised to learn about Mr. Muggs. I felt I had to include him in my book.
Taniesha's memoir, All the Rats Were White (And Some Even Wore Lab Coats): On Racism and Sexism in the Sciences Today, was inspired by Robert V. Guthrie's book Even the Rat Was White: A Historical View of Psychology, which discusses both the accomplishments of pioneering Black psychologists and racism in the field. I thought the title was awesome, so I swiped it.
The fictitious children's book about Smithy, Ghostly Animals: Ten Truly Haunting Tales by Bryce Crosby and Ellen Zola, is based on a book from my childhood called Haunted Animas: True Ghost Stories by Allan Zullo. Zullo often teamed up with Bruce Nash to write books for young readers about haunted kids, haunted baby-sitters, haunted athletes, UFO kids, and more. Each book recounted allegedly true events in narrative prose. Like the works of Daniel Cohen, they influenced my love of all things supernatural.
Smithy becomes the subject of two real-life television series that explored the unexplained: In Search of... and Unsolved Mysteries. The actual episode of Unsolved Mysteries broadcast on January 2, 1997 features a story about a special chimpanzee. The In Search of... episode that aired on January 17, 1982 is called "The Missing Link."
March 30, 2024
Author Event in San Antonio - June 29, 2024
On Saturday, June 29, 2024 at 1:00 p.m., I will be having a book signing event for Webster and Smithy at the Barnes & Noble (San Pedro) located at 321 NW Loop 410 #104, San Antonio, TX 78216.
The store is conveniently positioned near the San Antonio International Airport and the North Star Mall.
https://stores.barnesandnoble.com/store/2802
San Antonio is home to Primarily Primates, a sanctuary that cares for chimps, macaques, lemurs, and other animals rescued from biomedical research and the entertainment industry: https://primarilyprimates.org/
To assist the great work of this organization, I will donate $5.00 for each copy of Smithy or Webster purchased at the event to Primarily Primates.
Thank you for supporting this event!
March 25, 2024
Webster Name Games
As in my first book, Smithy, many of the character names in Webster were selected to reflect my interests or to impart a dual significance.
Many of CSAM's chimps are named after famous poltergeists:
Ted - the Tedworth Drummer, one of the earliest hauntings to come under scientific investigation
Gef - the talking mongoose investigated by parapsychologist Harry Price
Philip - the made-up subject of the Toronto "Philip" experiment
Fanny - Scratching Fanny, the Cock Lane ghost
Belle and Ol’ Kate - both references to Kate Batts, the alleged Bell Witch of Tennessee
Mr. Splitfoot - the Fox sisters' first spirit contact
Rosalie - the spirit of a 6-year old girl and the subject of another of Harry Price's investigations--and also the inspiration behind the novel The Hand of Mary Constable (1964) and the TV movie Daughter of the Mind (1969)
Additionally, the chimp Nando is named after the parapsychologist Nandor Fodor, whose own poltergeist investigation is detailed in The Haunting of Alma Fielding (2021) by Kate Summerscale
Prominent human characters are named after famous poltergeist focus persons:
TV news reporter Esther Cox - Esther Cox was the subject of the Great Amherst Mystery
TV news reporter Rob Mannheim - Robbie Mannheim, aka "Roland Doe," was the child who inspired The Exorcist
Researcher Marianne Foster - Marianne Foyster was the target of ghostly phenomena at Borley Rectory--or a hysteric who faked the haunting, depending on whose account you believe
Smithy superfan Tina Rausch - Tina Resch, the apparent focus of the 1984 Columbus poltergeist case, was caught staging activity on camera by a local news crew
Newspaper reporter Dan Ross is named after the prolific paperback writer Dan Ross (1912-1995), who gained fame by writing gothic fiction as Marilyn Ross. Among other works, Ross authored the Paperback Library Dark Shadows novels in the 1960s and 1970s. Ross once held a Guinness World Record for most published books.
Various reporters were assigned the aliases used by my favorite mystery writer Josephine Tey, who was born Elizabeth Mackintosh and also published as Gordon Daviot and F. Craigie Howe.
Mystery novelist Agatha Christie famously used the name Teresa Neele during her unexplained 11-day disappearance--and a character in Webster who wants to disappear uses it, too.
Judge Nathaniel Borley's name is derived from both Nathaniel Hawthorne, the early American writer of supernatural fiction, and Borley Rectory, "the most haunted house in England" and one of the models for Trevor Hall.
Manfred "Man" Teague, the boss from Hell, is named after the villain in The Castle of Otranto (1764), widely regarded as the first gothic/horror novel.
Conrad Hegge's law firm, Rhymer & Prest, LLP, is a reference to the 18th century authors Thomas Peckett Prest and James Malcolm Rymer, whose penny dreadfuls (including Varney the Vampyre and The String of Pearls) were published anonymously.
The mediums Celia interviews--Madame Zelda, Zachariah E. Lane, and Elise O'Shea--are named to commemorate my favorite movie mediums from Poltergeist (1982), 13 Ghosts (1960), and Insidious (2011), respectively
March 13, 2024
New Tik Tok Book Trailer for In the Shadow of the Skull
In the Shadow of the Skull is now on TikTok! Please check out the new book trailer by Katherine G71:
March 3, 2024
In the Shadow of the Skull Discounted on Smashwords for Read an EBook Week
Smashwords's 15th annual Read an EBook Week Sale is happening March 3-9, 2024. During this time, dozens of digital books will be discounted or made available for free.
The eBook of In the Shadow of the Skull will be on sale for 20% off; this discount is available from the Smashwords store only.
You can check out all the deals here:
February 28, 2024
In the Shadow of the Skull is a Rondo Award Nominee
I'm thrilled to share that In the Shadow of the Skull has been nominated for a Rondo Award for Best Classic Monster Fiction (Category 12 on the ballot):
https://rondoaward.com/rondoaward.com/blog/
The Rondo Awards have been celebrating classic horror since 2002. Named after actor Rondo Hatton, they are distributed on the basis of genre fans' nominations and votes.
Voting is open to the public until April 16, 2024. To cast your votes, please copy the ballot from the link above, highlight or mark your selection(s) with an X, or type out your picks separately, and send it in an email to taraco@aol.com.
February 27, 2024
Amanda Desiree's Creepiest Epistolary Novels on Shepherd.com
Are you looking for reading recommendations based on books you've read and loved--or recommended by authors whose works you've read and loved? Then the website shepherd.com will be your new best friend.
Shepherd.com is where you'll find themed book lists based on a topic, genre, or mood. You can even search for a favorite author to see what titles they've recommended.
This week, my own list of my top five Creepiest Epistolary Novels debuted:
https://shepherd.com/best-books/creepy-epistolary-horror-novels
Please check out these spooky works and take some time to browse other lists on Shepherd to find your next read.
February 24, 2024
Smithy's Journey Continues!
Here we are again, Smithy and me, with another book to share.
Despite what many people may think, Webster (released February 20, 2024) is not a sequel to Smithy, but the continuation of the story I started writing nearly 10 years ago. I intended to tell a story about a signing chimp that loosely followed the same trajectory as Nim Chimpsky's, from a sheltered home with attentive caretakers through the harsher world of institutional research. As my story progressed, I realized I had more to say than I'd anticipated. I decided to split the burgeoning manuscript into two parts at the natural breaking point, with the end of the Trevor Hall experiment.
As sinister as the old Newport mansion could sometimes be, it takes on an idyllic gloss when contrasted with the next, darker stage of Smithy's life. I wanted to pull the characters from their ersatz opulence and plunge them into exile far from all they knew. But what place would offer the biggest culture shock?
California was the most natural destination. Even people born and raised here know the state is weird with a history of fringe beliefs and extreme attitudes. These would have been especially prevalent in the 1970s when the New Age was still ascendant. I chose Fresno, CA, specifically, as my setting. It's less well-known than Los Angeles, San Francisco, or any other of the major West Coast cities to leap to mind. Further, Fresno has a university that could conceivably be involved in research of the sort my characters perform. Finally, for reasons that remain mysterious to me, people act as if Fresno were the armpit of the world. When friends or co-workers need to travel there for business or other special events, they groan, sigh, and pull faces. A Los Angeles DJ even has a regular comedy feature playing quirky, amusing news bits from Fresno, "your vacation destination when your budget is low." Fresno seemed like a place where people didn't want to be, so it seemed perfect for my purposes.
I've never been to the city myself, but I learned a great deal about it by reading Fresno Growing Up by Stephen Provost. Stephen was one of the first authors I met when I started attending writers' conventions. He describes his hometown with great affection, bringing to life the geography, businesses, and culture of its mid-century incarnation. The more I read about Fresno, the more guilty I felt about choosing it as my setting. Fresno sounds charming; I would gladly visit it.
Within the pages of my book, Fresno is the location of Smithy's new home, the Center for the Scientific Advancement of Man, or CSAM, operated by Dr. Manfred Teague. Though fictional, CSAM is informed by real ape research facilities of the 1970s.
Such facilities varied widely in quality, then and now. The Institute for Primate Studies (IPS) in Oklahoma, where Nim Chimpsky lived after leaving Delafield, specialized in cognitive studies, including language studies, and was spearheaded by a colorful, domineering figure about whom I found many eyebrow-raising anecdotes. But medical research facilities had the reputation for the worst conditions. After the IPS was forced to cease its research due to cash flow issues, many of its research subjects were sold to facilities like Sema, Inc. in Maryland, where apes were forcibly isolated in highly restricted enclosures, some of which allowed no movement at all, and deliberately infected with diseases like Hepatitis and HIV. Animal rights activists worked to expose Sema's egregious behavior, dragging the facility into the general public's gaze. Primate advocates Jane Goodall and Roger Fouts petitioned to tour the facility for themselves, and Sema agreed. Those in charge hoped the scientists would see how the primate subjects were being treated and tell the world that things weren't really as bad as PETA claimed.
Dr. Goodall left Sema in tears.
Neither party endorsed Sema's conduct.
You can see for yourself why not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dop7PSX2mrY
Reading Dr. Fouts's description of the facility in his book Next of Kin and seeing contemporary videos has the feel of a horror novel or torture movie, without any pleasurable frisson of suspense. Test subjects' lives were nasty, brutish, and (if they were lucky) short. Apes were recruited for medical facilities from a range of sources. Some were purchased from other facilities, like IPS, some were sourced (re captured) from the wild, and some were surrendered by private owners who had acquired apes as a fad and weren't prepared for the demands their powerful "pets" imposed when they grew out of infancy. The sudden change from nurturing homes, where they were often treated as humans, to prisons, where they were abused, must have been the severest shock for this last group.
To echo the suffering experienced by its primate subjects, I also exiled Ruby and Jeff to the gloomy, oppressive CSAM. As I was starting to write Smithy, new social movements were beginning to call attention to sexual harassment and assault in the workplace. I've been fortunate never to experience this type of abuse, but I have witnessed and endured other kinds, including verbal abuse, psychological abuse, and garden-variety bullying, on the job. I wondered when, or if, non-sexual abuse would also be publicly addressed and denounced. (Maureen Ryan's 2023 expose Burn it Down, which details racism, sexism, physical abuse, and bullying in the entertainment industry, does just that). In the meantime, I would turn CSAM into a hothouse for different types of abuse. Toxic workplaces can be cages, too.
Apart from exploring the lot in life of research chimps, I wanted to further explore the phenomenon of ghosts. What is a ghost? What can a ghost do? How do ghost stories get started? Why do people believe in ghosts, why do they believe the things about ghosts that they believe, and why do they go on believing especially when evidence is lacking? By drawing on the legend of the Dark Woman already established in Smithy, Webster further addresses these questions, and more generally explores the pull that the unknown and the unusual have on people from all walks of life.
I've always been impressed by stories that take claims of the supernatural seriously by exploring their real-world implications. Films like Audrey Rose and The Exorcism of Emily Rose even investigate the paranormal through courts of law. I wanted to employ that same strategy to make Smithy's story as real as possible and explore how people would react to the possibility that a chimp could really be communicating with ghosts.
These scenes served a dual purpose in the story, for the courtroom is also where the rights of high-functioning animals like chimps, elephants, and dolphins are increasingly being explored. The documentary film Unlocking the Cage follows attorney Steven Wise in his quest to help non-humans acquire dignity and legal recognition, and to avoid the types of abuses inflicted by places like Sema. His arguments and the outcomes of his hearings are fascinating. As the courts continue to redefine personhood on a daily basis, it will be interesting to see whether the great apes ever achieve the same rights and protections as a frozen zygote.
As you can see, Webster covers a lot of ground, introducing new challenges for Smithy and his human allies, and new questions for readers to consider. It also draws upon the same ambiguity and unease that pervaded Trevor Hall, challenging us to decide what is real and what is the truest threat.
Why not take the next step of that journey with Smithy and explore this mysterious territory for yourself?
