Willy Martinez's Blog, page 58

Book Review of Folk Horror Thriller, “The Reddening” by Adam Neville

The following review was written by Horror author, A.R. Braun.

We have not evolved. Old gods and savage murders are still happening in Brickburgh, England. Katrine, a lifestyle journalist, escaped from horrors of the past by moving to a coast. Seaside holidays and the beauty of nature, what could go wrong?

Human remains and prehistoric artifacts are found in said Brickburgh, making Katrina’s life a nightmare.

Single-parent Helene lost her brother, Lincoln, six years ago. And there is a tape, recorded by Lincoln himself, of strange noises, exactly six years ago, in the caves off the water. In said caves, early man butchered each other sixteen thousand years ago. On the cave walls lurk drawings of their nameless deity. The worst part is, people have been disappearing from these remote locations for years.

There must be foul play.

And now there are sightings of drug plantations and the red folk. In this bucolic setting, strangers are not welcome. An insidious power looms underneath the earth, a supernatural being only the desperate invoke.

To save their lives and for Helene to find Lincoln, Katrine and Helene must confront the evil and investigate. The drug fields—also the killing fields—await, along with the murderous red folk, ready to destroy all that invade their coven.

Will Helene find her brother alive, or dead? And will she and Katrine be next? Or will they triumph after a bloody battle with these friends? One thing’s for sure, they’ll be forever scarred, if they survive, by the Reddening.

A.R. Braun on Mind on Fire Books

Review by Horror Writer, A.R. Braun. Check out his latest short story, “Little Ghoul,” here.

15 of the Best Quotes from “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury

Quote by Ray Bradbury. Used for Mind on Fire Books

I fell in love with the book from the first line: “It was a pleasure to burn.” There aren’t many books that have pulled me in so deeply with just a few words but this was one of them. With those six simple words the author, Ray Bradbury, conveys Montag’s obvious satisfaction with his life as a fireman. The exposition of this novel depicts a dystopian future where the vast majority of citizens live in numb contentment.

I could go on and on about this lovely short novel, but I will save that for another post. Here I would just like to share about 8 of the best quotes from the book that I think every reader should know.

1. “It was a pleasure to burn.”

2. “He was not happy. He was not happy. He said the words to himself. He recognized this as the true state of affairs. He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back.”

3. “We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?” 

4. “There must be something in books, things we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.” 

5. “A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon.” 

6. “What is there about fire that’s so lovely? No matter what age we are, what draws us to it?’ Beatty blew out the flame and lit it again. ‘It’s perpetual motion; the thing man wanted to invent but never did.” 

There are books to remind us what asses and fools we are. Used for Mind on Fire Books

7. “Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you’re there.”

8. “If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you’ll never learn.”

9. “We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over.”

10. “Don’t ask for guarantees. And don’t look to be saved in any one thing, person, machine, or library. Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at least die knowing you were heading for shore.”

11. “The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us.”

12. “The good writers touch life often. The mediocre ones run a quick hand over her. The bad ones rape her and leave her for the flies.”

13. “I don’t talk things, sir. I talk the meaning of things.”

14. “See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories. Ask for no guarantees, ask for no security.”

A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Used for Mind on Fire Books

And last but not least:

15. “Stuff your eyes with wonder,’ he said, ‘live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic that any dream made or paid for in factories. Ask no guarantees, ask for no security, there never was such an animal. And if there were, it would be related to the great sloth which hangs upside down in a tree all day every day, sleeping its life away. To hell with that,’ he said, ‘shake the tree and knock the great sloth down on his ass.” 

Also, were you aware that HBO recently adapted a film version of this book? I must admit that I actually enjoyed the film (don’t hate me.) It was rather strange, just as strange as the book was. The film had it’s expected differences from the book, but honestly, I liked how they were able to keep me entertained since I already knew how the book ended. If you ever find yourself chilling at home on a cold evening, throw on that film adaptation of “Fahrenheit 451,” and hopefully it will entertain you as much as it did me.

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🚨🚨BOOKLAUNCH!🚨🚨

Today we launch our first multi-author fiction anthology exploring three disturbing tales about the nature of man and the true nature of what lies inside of him.

The cost is only 2.99, so that’s one dollar a story and all of our writers are indie horror authors. Available on all major platforms.

Mad Men is a collection of three disturbing horror shorts from authors living in the Midwest. The themes explored in this collection range from man versus self, man versus man, and man versus creature.

We start with Matt’s tale, a thought-provoking thriller which causes the reader to question his reality and what he fears within himself. The second tale explores the grotesque juxtaposed with beautiful nature, where the ending unfolds into a horrific dream, waking in even more terrible pain. The third tale is by seasoned horror writer, A.R. Braun – and his diabolical creatures never disappoint!  A.R. Braun’s goal is to be on the banned book list; we think this tale may just be evil enough to be considered. A must read before it does get banned!

Mainstream Horror Shorts don’t always satisfy us in the way they should. They don’t open conversations about what it is that we fear or why we fear such things, they focus mainly on pop culture and gore. The writers in this anthology understand the need for literate horror, opening discussions of man’s psyche. When these writers set out to tell a story, they are less interested in conveying fear and more interested in wonder, the sublime, and the infinite strangeness that drives all man and woman. Highly recommended for tweens, teens, and adults.

Available now at Google Books, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple iBooks, Smashwords, and Amazon.

A three story horror short anthology by A.R. Braun, Matt “Love-it or” Leavitt and Willy Martinez.

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New Book Release

🚨BOOKLAUNCH!🚨

Today we launch our first multi-author fiction anthology exploring three disturbing tales about the nature of man and the true nature of what lies inside of him.

The cost is only 2.99, so that's one dollar a story and all of our writers are indie horror authors. Available on all major platforms.

LINK IN BIO - ALSO, PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW WHEREVER YOU BUY IT. Support indie horror.

Mad Men

Hereditary: Film Review by Horror Author, A.R. Braun

This is the film that restored my faith in American cinema. Previously, I felt one had to watch a foreign flick for a good scare. Ari Aster is my favorite writer/director, the only American making shocking films right now. And this film WILL scare you. Also important is Toni Collette, who gives a lights-out performance, as always, just intense as can be. (The lead actress from The United States of Tara.)

Miniature model artist Annie Graham (Collette) has lost her weird, eerie mother, Ellen (Kathleen Chalfant). At the funeral, Annie is surprised by how many people show up, a staggering amount, and she’s never met any of them. When Ellen’s grave is desecrated, Annie sees her ghost.

Wanting her strange-and-creepy thirteen-year-old daughter, Charlie (Milly Shapiro), to enjoy her life, she manipulates her sixteen-year-old son, Peter (Alex Wolff), to take her along to a party he’s going to. Problem is, Charlie’s allergic to certain foods, and when she eats cake with nuts, she goes full-tilt into anaphylactic shock. Peter then rushes her to the hospital, but his driving’s erratic, and Charlie, not being able to breathe, sticks her head out the window for fresh air . . . and her head’s decapitated by a telephone pole.

Scene from Hereditary film for Mind on Fire Blog

Things go downhill from there.

At a grief-support group, Annie meets an older woman named Joan (Ann Dowd), who lost a son. At first, the friendship seems innocuous, but after a beat Joan shows Annie how to conjure up the departed loved one, and when you hear that creepy music and things start moving seemingly by themselves, you know you’re in trouble. In fact, I knew I was in trouble as soon as I saw Charlie, who’s really strange looking, and uses bird’s heads for her action figures.

From then on, you are not safe. If the scenes that follow don’t freak you out, you’re probably dead.

Why is Joan trying to exorcise Peter from his own body? Why does Charlie persist in being alive? Where did all those people at the funeral come from?

The scares amp-up until you think you can’t take it. I mean, ghosts being naked when they’re dead, I don’t need to see that!

And human spirits aren’t the biggest worry. Annie’s mother Ellen was a demon-worshipper, and those people at the funeral are her coven.

I highly recommend this one to those who think they can’t be scared by a film . . . and especially those that can.

A.R. Braun on Mind on Fire Books

Review by Horror Writer, A.R. Braun. Check out his latest Novel, “Only Women in Hell,” here.

A.R. Braun will also be featured on our anthology Mad Men, available for presale now.

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The Manitou by Graham Masterton – Book Review by Horror Writer, A.R. Braun

The Manitou is definitely Graham Masterton’s bread-and-butter, the series being the best books he’s ever written. He went on to write many great novels, a total of 101 in all!

In 1976’s The Manitou, based in San Francisco, something is growing on the back of an attractive woman named Karen Tandy’s neck—perceived as a tumor—which baffles her doctors.

Desperate for help, the good docs bring in a charlatan psychic named Harry Erskine—an unlikely hero who’s the perfect protagonist—as a paranormal investigator. Erskine helps the doctors discover that an ancient Native-American medicine man named Misquamacus, the most powerful Shaman ever, is back to seek revenge against the white man for stealing his country, as well as other atrocities. Reborn from a neck, the Native American is squat, has stunted limbs, but is none the less powerful. Able to call up the most powerful demons in the world who can’t be exercised by Christianity because they were before Christ, the shaman’s chief demon is a squid spirit and, yes, I believe it’s Cthulhu.

This infernal medicine man is feared by all as the body count rises. Everything in the world has a Manitou, a Native-American spirit, and Harry and the good doctors call upon a modern-day Shaman named John Singing Rock for help, definitely less powerful than Misquamacus. They battle and wrack their brains to come up with the best modern Manitou to fight the insidious shaman.

Will they be able to stop the carnage so vehement it’ll be mass-murder? Or will they end up butchered, like the cops in the elevator?

This novel was ten times better than I expected it to be, and I highly recommend this gem, plus the sequels, which are all great. You’d better hope Native-American spirits don’t come looking for revenge!

A.R. Braun on Mind on Fire Books

Review by Horror Writer, A.R. Braun. You can check out his latest Novel, “Dogman of Illinois, here.

A.R. Braun will also be featured on our anthology Mad Men, available for presale now.

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Happy National Science Fiction Day

On this day we celebrate the Birthday of Isaac Asimov, the father of robotics and many scifi classics.

2020 Was My Year

2020 was my year. Despite the pandemic, my wife and I were fortunate enough to be able to continue working. And I was able to continue giving back to the community and growing.

For years I had wanted to learn yoga from an educational viewpoint and not just take classes here and there. I was able to do that virtually this year, thanks to covid. In September, I earned my 200 hour yoga certificate while learning from home.

I was also able to finally put together a boxing class for kids. I had been teaching adults, but I truly wanted to transition to teaching our youth. I was able to work with at least 15 kids this year. I currently run a class with about 9 to 10 kids. Although we weren’t able to travel for competition, I have still been able to train new kids with no prior fight experience and at a much more detailed pace for them to learn proper technique.

I published my non fiction anthology, which my graduate teachers said I would never do. In spite of them, I started my own business and published my work exactly how I wanted to do it. And now I’m working with two other writers to publish their fiction works.

I’m more stable in life, and I have finally let go of my former self and what I was expecting of that person. I can say I’m more mindful, I can appreciate these moments. As a Veteran, I’m not continually angry for no reason, well, at least not every day.

And the best part is, I have even bigger plans for 2021. Life is like riding a bike, you gotta keep moving or it doesnt work. Whether your physically moving or mentally developing, or spiritually growing, keep it moving.

Henry Miller’s 11 Writing Commandments

In this post, we share the American writer and painter, Henry Miller’s 11 Writing Commandments.

Henry Miller was an American writer and painter. He was born 26 December 1891, and died 7 June 1980. His autobiographical novels achieve a candour—particularly about sex—that made them a liberating influence in mid-20th-century literature. He is also notable for a free and easy American style and a gift for comedy that springs from his willingness to admit to feelings others conceal and an almost eager acceptance of the bad along with the good. Because of their sexual frankness, his major works were banned in Britain and the United States until the 1960s, but they were widely known earlier from copies smuggled in from France.

The list read as follows:

Work on one thing at a time until finished.Start no more new books, add no more new material to “Black Spring.”Don’t be nervous. Work calmly, joyously, recklessly on whatever is in hand.Work according to Program and not according to mood. Stop at the appointed time!When you can’t create you can work.Cement a little every day, rather than add new fertilizers.Keep human! See people, go places, drink if you feel like it.Don’t be a draught-horse! Work with pleasure only.Discard the Program when you feel like it—but go back to it next day. Concentrate. Narrow down. Exclude.Forget the books you want to write. Think only of the book you are writing.Write first and always. Painting, music, friends, cinema, all these come afterwards.

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Transcending

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Faceless – 100 Word Short Story

She had always wanted to be beautiful. She had read about the power of love and beauty in the nefarious dead-fairy tales of the underworld. This could never be her.

Yet, she never gave up. She read voraciously about the fiction of the nether world histories. Summoning a Djin from a rescued incantation, she used it to plan her return to the world of the living. The first step was to convert her vaporous body into something tangible.

Next, for her to be beautiful and with a face, she would need to devour a heavenly soul.

Artwork is by mrs_white_photoart on Instagram and titled “Caught in Your World.”

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Transcending

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