Adam J. Whitlatch's Blog, page 9

Listen to "Night of the Cicada" Now!

The Audible edition of The Weller: Night of the Cicada is available now on Audible, iTunes, and Amazon! I'm thrilled with Aaron Miller's performance, and I'm glad I reached out to him about reprising his role as Weller narrator. I'm still hard at work on the novel-length sequel, The Weller: Fear of the Dark, as well as a top secret Weller project that I hope will be ready to preview before summer. Stay tuned, but in the meantime, enjoy A.W. Miller's narration of The Weller: Night of the Cicada.

New "Temujin Saga" Short Story!

I have a holiday surprise for you, friends! Just to show Birthright fans that I haven't forgotten about them while I've been working on The Weller: Fear of the Dark, I have just released a short story follow up to Birthright called Five Stories Up. After a lightning strike damages his suit's systems, Samrai and his brother Moe find themselves stranded in a strange city with the United States Air Force hot on their trail. With no reinforcements, the Replodians must hold their own against an old foe with a score to settle. Five Stories Up came from this year's Burlington Bloodbath competition, sponsored by Chris Murphy at Burlington By The Book in beautiful downtown Burlington, Iowa. The ebook is available NOW on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Google Play, and will soon be coming to Apple iBooks. Click here to download the story from your preferred digital store. Paperback edition also coming soon for serious "Temujin Saga" collectors!

Weller News!

November is the month for Weller news, apparently, because I have plenty of it! First up, I'm pleased to announce that I've teamed up with the original Weller audiobook narrator, A.W. Miller, to bring the short story The Weller: Night of the Cicada to Audible! The audiobook will run approximately thirty minutes, and I'm hoping to have it available in time for the holidays! At first, I wasn't going to bother with an audio production for such a short story, but I also originally wasn't going to publish a paperback, and it's been immensely popular with the Weller fans, so why the hell not do an audiobook? Just a little something fun to tide folks over until The Weller: Fear of the Dark is released. Speaking of which... If you're a regular reader of this blog, you likely already know that I've been hard at work on the book this month, taking advantage of the momentum of NaNoWriMo to spur me forward and hopefully finish the book before the end of the year. As of last night, I'm 955 words short of the daily goal. Unfortunately I fell a little behind when I traveled for the Ghost concert in Ames last week, but I'm confident that I can catch up once the book's action scenes really ramp up. Even if I don't hit 50,000 words before December, though, I'm still making significant progress, especially considering how slow I typically write. At any rate, I'm going to try to hit that goal. Then the search for cover art will begin. I have a few ideas for what I'd like the artwork to look like, but I haven't quite settled on a concept yet. I plan to commission original artwork from Puppeteer Lee, who painted the cover art for Birthright. One thing is certain, however, I would like this cover to show Matt unmasked this time. Weller 2 is starting to come together, folks. The past couple weeks have awakened Matt Freeborn's cynical voice inside me, and I'm confident that this book will absolutely blow Weller fans away. Stay tuned for more. If you'd like an early look at the first draft of The Weller: Fear of the Dark, you can become my supporter on Patreon by clicking here. Being a patron unlocks exclusive behind-the-scenes content for this and other upcoming titles. Rewards start at just $1.00.

Listen to Vengeance For My Valentine NOW!

At long last, the day is finally here. My urban fantasy novel Vengeance For My Valentine is now available as a full-length audiobook narrated by Rich Callahan! I apologize for the wait on this one, folks, but I promise you it is well worth it. I worked closely with Rich to ensure that everything about this audio production was absolutely perfect. I'm confident that Vengeance fans will enjoy Rich's performance as he brings Ash, Eric, and the rest of the cast to life. You can purchase the audiobook here for just $19.95, or get it FREE when you sign up for a 30-day Audible trial!

NaNoWriMo 2018

As I'm sure most readers of this blog realize, my long-anticipated sequel, The Weller: Fear of the Dark, has been in the works for a while. Depression, for-hire work, and side projects that didn't pan out have all contributed to the wait. Well, I'm hoping that the wait will soon be over. This year, I'm going to take part in National Novel Writing Month in an effort to spur myself into action and get my butt in gear on this book. It won't be easy, because I'm an agonizingly slow writer, but I'm hoping that at the very least I'll be able to crank out a sizable chunk of the book before the deadline. Since I don't have any more conventions, signings, plays, etc lined up for the rest of the year, it's certainly doable. At the very least, I'm going to try, damn it. I owe it to you all. Feel free to follow my progress here, or become my supporter on Patreon for the privilege of reading the book before anybody else. I also post concept art, notebook scans, and other exclusive behind-the-scenes material there. And don't worry, what you see at the top of this post is not the final cover. It's just a placeholder until I get proper cover art commissioned. Your Patreon contributions will help fund that. In the meantime, if you haven't already, check out the previous installments in the Weller series, The Weller and the short story The Weller: Night of the Cicada. Well, back to work. Wish me luck, friends!

Bride of Frankenstein - 31/31 Days of Halloween

Well, friends, we've finally reached the end of our month-long celebration of Halloween. I've always been a fan of the classic Universal Frankenstein movies, and I had a hard time choosing tonight's film. Should I review the original, or its follow up? Finally, I decided on the second installment for reasons I'll explain later. The Frankenstein franchise is important because Mary Shelley and her original novel essentially gave birth to the science fiction genre, which is why I always enjoy a hearty belly laugh anytime some idiot claims women have no place in science fiction. After all, as the old joke goes, Mary Shelley invented science fiction because it sounded more appealing than another lousy threesome with Lord Byron. But I've rambled on enough, and we have a movie to review. So grab your bowl of Halloween candy, turn off the lights, and lets dive right on into our final spooky film of 2018, Bride of Frankenstein! The film opens with Mary Shelley, her husband Percy, and Lord Byron chatting while a thunderstorm rages outside. Byron praises Mary for her chilling novel, and is delighted when she tells him that the story isn't finished, and she has much more to tell. Mary begins to regale her audience, beginning where the first film left off, with the old mill destroyed by fire and Henry Frankenstein and his creation presumed dead. Eager to put the situation behind him, the burgomaster urges the townspeople to leave, but Hans, the father of one of the Monster's first victims, is determined to see the Monster's body for himself. The Monster awakens and kills both Hans and his wife before escaping from the smoldering debris. One of Baron Frankenstein's servants, Minnie, witnesses the Monster's return and rushes to warn the other villagers, but nobody believes her, and she is ignored. Frankenstein's fiancee is relieved to discover that he is still alive, and nurses him back to health. While he is recovering, Dr. Pretorius, a former teacher of Henry's calls on the young Baron and proposes they work together. While initially reluctant, Henry is intrigued by Pretorius's own discoveries about life and death. Meanwhile, the Monster wanders the countryside, learning and discovering how to be human. Despite his best efforts, only his creator can give him what he desires above all else... a companion. So the reason I chose this film instead of its predecessor is because it really gets into the meat and potatoes of the story in Shelley's original novel. One of the book's prominent themes was the question of "What is it to be human?" and "Why am I here?" This is where we see how truly misunderstood the Monster is, and Karloff gets to stretch his artistic legs a little. While the first film did depict him as essentially a child thrust into a strange and sometimes frightening world, Bride shows us how the Monster desperately tries to find a sense of belonging, all-too-briefly finding it in the old blind man's hut before two hunters ruin the moment for him. We finally hear the monster speak and, realizing that he'll never fit in with the humans, use that newfound ability to demand the only thing that can bring him happiness, which just happens to be the one thing Henry Frankenstein doesn't want. Bride introduces a new mad doctor to serve as both friend and foil to Henry, the eccentric genius, Dr. Pretorius. Pretorius' own achievements arguably surpass Frankensteins, since he managed to create life from scratch rather than reanimating patchwork dead tissue, but apparently size matters, and Pretorius seeks to combine their efforts to create the perfect being. Frankly, the story really doesn't need Pretorius to move forward, but he's such a fun character that this is easily forgiven. The eponymous Bride (portrayed by Elsa Lanchester, who also plays Mary Shelley in the film's opener) is onscreen for a shorter time than it took to give her life. She barely has time to figure out the use of her own legs before the Monster appears to claim her, but to his dismay, like the rest of the world, she is terrified of him and rejects him, driving the Monster to destroy the lab, presumably killing Pretorius, the Bride, and himself in the process. Although her screen time is short, Lanchester's performance is legendary, and the Bride with her crazy hair has become just as iconic as Karloff's Monster himself. So what's the verdict, you ask? Well, I've already stated my love for the Frankenstein film franchise, so it goes without saying that I think this film is phenomenal. While not my favorite installment, an honor that goes to 1939's Son of Frankenstein, it's definitely in my top three. I'd highly recommend setting aside an evening to watch both Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein back to back in a single sitting. Well, that's it for 2018's 31 Days of Halloween, folks. Thanks to all the readers who followed along with me this year, and I hope you'll all come back next year when I'll review 31 different films. If I didn't review a film you think I should have, either comment here or drop me a line. Maybe I'll get to it next year. Until then, stay scared.

Vampire Hunter D - 30/31 Days of Halloween

I decided I needed some animation in this marathon, and I've been trying to decide for about a week now what to watch. I considered something nostalgic from my childhood like It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown or Garfield's Halloween Adventure, but then today while I was flipping through my DVD collection, I came across the perfect movie to review. One of my all-time favorite animated features, Vampire Hunter D. The film opens in the distant future, in a world where human civilization and technology has regressed and monsters rule the night. A young woman named Doris is protecting her crops from a dinosaur-like creature when she is attacked by an ancient vampire named Count Magnus Lee, who bites her as "payment" for trespassing upon what he considers to be his land. After the attack, Doris encounters a strange man on the road and, presuming he is a vampire hunter, attacks him to test his strength. The man shrugs off her attack, and she begs for his help in destroying the Count. The hunter, who identifies himself simply as "D," agrees. When Doris rejects a jealous would-be suitor in the village, he reveals Doris' condition to the townspeople. Shunned by the villagers, Doris returns home with D and her brother. That night, the Count's minions come for Doris, but they are repelled by the vampire hunter, who is revealed to be a dhampir, half-human and half-vampire. Using his preternatural powers, D combats the forces of darkness in order to save Doris and rid the earth of monsters. While the original English dub can be a bit cheesy at times, it's very much a product of its time. Let's be honest, all English anime dubs in the 1980s were awful. I learned today that there's a newer English dub released by Toho in 2015, and I checked it out on YouTube, skipping around to get a feel for the different voices. While some of the new voices and dialogue are improvements, I still prefer the original. Maybe its simple nostalgia, but I just feel the original voices suit the 1985 animation style better. Oh, the fan service! Anime fans are accustomed to it, I suppose. Throughout the film, Doris wears what I assume is the only outfit she's owned since she was four years old. Doris tends to go from strong, independent badass to damsel in distress in the blink of an eye. While I understand it's hard to be brave when confronted by vampires, werewolves, and mutants, I think the writers could have tried to be a bit more consistent with her character. The 2000 sequel, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, did a much better job with the character Leila, who actually bears a strong resemblance to Doris. A descendent, perhaps? So what about the monsters? Well, the movie certainly has no shortage of strange and interesting monsters, particularly within the walls of Magnus Lee's castle. All manner of indescribable beasties slither in the darkness as D makes his way through the corridors. Magnus Lee himself isn't a very dynamic character, but both his animators and voice actor did a splendid job of portraying him as a bored immortal. The space-bending Rei Ginsei is just as much the antagonist of the film as Count Lee, facing off against both D and the Count. In fact, he comes much closer to defeating D than the Count himself! What many casual American fans may not know is that Vampire Hunter D is based upon a series of novels by Hideyuki Kikuchi. I own a few of these, but have so far only read the first, upon which today's film is based. The novel differs significantly from the movie, as both Greco and Rei Ginsei play a much larger role in the story with Greco sporting power armor at one point in the story and Rei Ginsei acting as the leader of a gang of wandering mercenaries. While the movie does simplify the novel's plot a great deal, I think I prefer the movie's treatment. The novel tended to be tedious at times, taking too much attention away from the main story of D hunting Count Magnus Lee. Those differences aside, however, I'd still recommend checking out the novels if this movie and its sequel aren't enough to sate your appetites. So it's time for my verdict, which should come as no surprise. I absolutely love this movie, and I've been hoping for a third film for the past eighteen years. There have been whispers of a live-action movie and an animated series or several years, but nothing has ever come of it. If you're a fan of vampires, or simply a fan of Japanese animation, then Vampire Hunter D is required viewing.

Stir of Echoes - 29/31 Days of Halloween

Oh, man! I haven't watched this movie in almost nineteen years! I was going through my unwatched DVDs tonight, looking for a suitable movie, and I came across this gem. I remember sitting in my first apartment, watching this movie with the other members of my band, and all of us humming along with the cryptic song, racking our brains trying to figure out where we'd heard the melody before. When it was finally revealed, we all shouted in unison, "OH! The Stones!" I didn't realize until partway through the opening credits that this is the second film I'm reviewing this month based upon the work of Richard Matheson, the first being The Last Man On Earth. So without any further delay, let's DIG right into Stir of Echoes. The film opens with a young boy named Jake talking to somebody that neither of his parents can see or hear. Thinking it's just childish fantasy, they ignore him, never hearing him ask the unseen person a very important question: "Does it hurt to be dead?" After a party at a neighbor's house, the boy's father Tom (played by Kevin Bacon) teases his sister-in-law Lisa until she agrees to hypnotize him. She agrees, and Tom immediately sees terrifying visions, but the other partygoers only saw him performing silly parlor tricks, much to their amusement. The visions continue, and Tom begins seeing the ghost of a young girl in his house. Tom and Maggie hire a babysitter suggested by Jake, who says that Samantha told him about her. When Jake is alone with the babysitter, he mentions Samantha, and the girl kidnaps him. Tom has a vision and tracks Jake and the girl to the train station, where the girl's mother informs them that Samantha is her oldest daughter, and she is missing. Tom returns to Lisa demanding she undo whatever she did while he was under hypnosis. Instead of ridding him of the visions, Tom is given a new cryptic message from Samantha... "DIG." Obsessed, Tom begins tearing up the backyard, and later the house, desperate for answers and an end to the terrifying visions. CONTENT WARNING: Rape/Assault Individuals for whom sexual assault is a trigger may want to steer clear of this film, as Samantha's assault that ultimately leads to her death is quite violent. Knowing my wife has a thing about fingernails, I had to warn her when a shot of Samantha's fingernail snapping as she fought back was coming up. All that being said, I was surprised when I recognized Jennifer Morrison in the role. Many viewers will probably recognize her as Dr. Cameron from the medical drama series House. The ghostly Samantha is creepy without being overly threatening or relying on heavy makeup or special effects, which I think makes her much more effective. Two scenes that will undoubtedly make most viewers cringe are the aforementioned fingernail scene and the tooth scene (pictured). While they're definitely cringe-inducing and even a bit stomach-churning, they're not over-the-top gore, which a good ghost movie doesn't need. Just be ready to cover your eyes when Kevin Bacon notices the blood on his mouth if that kind of thing bothers you. Speaking of Kevin Bacon, he really shines in this movie, and by shine I mean he channels Jack Nicholson in The Shining a little bit as the visions really begin to plague him. To be honest, Tom's not a very likable character, but that just makes the movie all the better because not everyone is likable, and by the end of the movie, Tom has certainly redeemed himself, at least in my eyes. I do have to count this as one of my favorite Kevin Bacon performances. So what's the verdict? Well, I loved the movie! And as long as none of the potential triggers I mentioned in this review bother you, I'd highly recommend you check this one out. I have to say the past week's reviews have convinced me that I need to read a hell of a lot more Matheson! If you're looking for a good ghost story, then here it is. Pour yourself a tall glass of orange juice, turn off the lights, and give Stir of Echoes a whirl.

Hellraiser: Inferno - 28/31 Days of Halloween

I apologize for the delay in posting today's review. As I was watching this movie on Tubi, the app kept glitching, making the movie impossible to watch, so I was forced to try again this morning. Luckily the app worked just fine, and I was finally able to watch today's film, Hellraiser: Inferno. Inferno stars Great Value David Boreanaz, or as his IMDB page lists him, Craig Sheffer, who Clive Barker fans will probably recognize as Boone/Cabal from the movie Nightbreed, which I reviewed earlier this month. As the film opens, we see Detective Joseph Thorne (played by Sheffer) playing a game of speed chess when he is called away to a crime scene. When he arrives, he realizes that the horribly mutilated corpse is a man he went to high school with. The police discover a child's severed finger at the scene, along with a strange, wooden puzzle box. Thorne steals both the dead man's money and the box from evidence and spends the night in a hotel room with a prostitute named Daphne, having sex and doing illegal drugs. While Daphne sleeps, Thorne opens the puzzle box and immediately finds himself in a dark, dreamlike world populated with horrific creatures, including two freakish twins who attempt to seduce him. The following morning, Thorne reports to work and receives a frantic call from Daphne at the hotel. When he arrives at the scene, he and his partner find Daphne dead in the shower, along with another child's severed finger. Despite protests from his colleagues who feel he's too close to the case, Thorne begins tracking down the killer, a mysterious man his sources tell him is called "The Engineer." I'm not going to lie, I absolutely loved this movie! Before today, I'd only ever watched the first four Hellraiser films. Inferno is a return to form, and in my opinion is the first sequel to serve as a worthy follow up to the 1987 original. The film focuses less on the cenobites and more on the sinful humans they are intended to seduce, torment, and ultimately punish. Pinhead is back, of course, but his screen time is greatly reduced in comparison to the last couple films, and that's okay!! There's no flashbacks to his mortal life, no rampaging through the streets, no more blasphemous one-liners in churches, and no more shoehorning ridiculous cenobites into the story. This is Pinhead at his most calculating. Once you realize what's happening, its fun to watch Pinhead play with his prey. Aside from one painfully out-of-place scene with a cowboy poker saloon complete with kung fu cowboys, the story is solid. The punishment Pinhead has chosen for Thorne is delightfully fiendish. I love that the film went in the direction it did. I got so tired of the previous installments being about defeating Pinhead. That's not what Hellraiser is about at all. It's about the wicked getting what's coming to them, and in that department, Inferno doesn't disappoint. I think my verdict should be obvious, this film is great, and if you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend it. Skip parts 3 and 4, because they're really not worth your time. Those movies sacrificed substance for style, but Hellraiser: Inferno has plenty of both to go around.

Interview with the Vampire - 27/31 Days of Halloween

I must be on a vampire kick this weekend, because when I logged into Netflix tonight and saw this movie in my recommendations, I couldn't resist. Tonight's film is the 1994 adaptation of Anne Rice's novel , Interview with the Vampire. The film opens in a hotel room in New Orleans, where a young man is interviewing a gentleman named Louis who claims to be a vampire. After a brief display of Louis' preternatural abilities, the interviewer starts the tape and Louis begins his tale. Louis was a plantation owner in Louisiana when his wife and newborn child died in 1791. Seeking death, Louis engages in a series of self-destructive behaviors, attracting the attention of a vampire named Lestat. Lestat offers Louis "the choice he never had," and when Louis accepts, makes him a vampire. To Lestat's chagrin, Louis clings to his humanity and refuses to feed upon the living, instead quenching his thirst for blood on rats and dogs. When Louis, in a fit of depression, wanders into a plague-ridden district of New Orleans, he gives in to his hunger and feeds upon an young orphan named Claudia. Lestat rejoices, but Louis flees the scene, ashamed. Lestat rescues the girl and turns her in an effort to bring Louis around, and the two men raise the young vampire as their own for thirty years. When Claudia grows tired of Louis' and Lestat's treatment and realizes she will never mature physically, she rebels and tricks Lestat in an attempt to kill him, but her plot ultimately fails. After a fiery "final confrontation with their maker, Louis and Claudia travel to the Old World in search of others like them. When they finally find other immortals in Paris, their lives take a turn for the worse. Regardless of your feelings about Tom Cruise, one can't deny that he was born to play the role of the snobbish Lestat de Lioncourt. Even Anne Rice herself initially objected to the casting, but eventually came around once she viewed his performance. Whether he's portraying Lestat in his prime or at the immortal Brat Prince's most desperate, withered state, Cruise's performance is masterful. It's truly a shame that he wasn't tapped to reprise the role again for 2002's dismal follow-up/reboot Queen of the Damned. It's been several years since I last watched the movie, and I was surprised at just how unsettling Cruise's Lestat was following Claudia's attempted murder of him. Stan Winston really outdid himself with all stages of Lestat's makeup. When we see the vampire's body submerged in the bayou, it's hard to imagine that thing could ever return, but return he does, and when the decaying Lestat sits down at the piano in Claudia's and Louis' residence, I still get chills. While I'm sure what I'm about to say will mark me as a heretic in the eyes of Anne Rice fans everywhere, I'm going to say it anyway. One thing that this film does better than the novels is the vampire Armand. Antonio Banderas delivers a masterful, seductive performance. I may be straight, but even I have to admit that Armand gives me tingles, and that's perfect, because a vampire's powers of seduction should transcend sexuality. But beyond that, Banderas' Armand is believable as an immortal. His speech about knowing nothing of any Heaven or Hell is one of my favorite moments in the entire movie. We also mustn't forget about Brad Pitt. Pitt plays the eponymous vampire, Louis. Pitt's portrayal of Louis is the prototypical emo vampire. But whether he is wallowing in his own self pity or relishing in his life of bloodletting decadence, Pitt's performance is both impressive and immersive. For me, however, Pitt's finest moment comes in the film's fiery climax when he sneaks into the catacombs beneath the Théâtre des Vampires in Paris and systematically wipes out the entire Paris vampire coven. After Claudia is executed by the coven, we see a significant change come over Louis, his eyes burning with a preternatural hatred. Since the film's release, Pitt has stated that he was miserable during the film's production, and he even tried to buy his way out of his contract, due to how depressed the night shoots made him and the differences between the film and novel versions of his character. While I'm saddened to hear that he didn't enjoy the production, and that he's dissatisfied with the finished product, I'm glad he saw it through, because I cannot envision any other actor playing the part of Louis de Pointe du Lac, and I'm glad that the part was not recast for Queen of the Damned. Let's talk a moment about the soundtrack, because one of the most integral parts of any film is its music. Interview's score was composed by Elliot Goldenthal. Goldenthal's score is absolutely haunting with its use of choirs and violins. Goldenthal composed two of my all-time favorite film scores, this one and Alien 3, and both scores share similarities, particularly in their use of the choir. And of course, let's not forget about the ending song, Sympathy for the Devil, performed by Guns N' Roses. At first glance, GNR seems like a rather odd choice for a movie that is, for the most part, a period film set in the 17 and 1800s, but like Lestat at the close of the film, it brings us into the present. My verdict should come as no surprise. Interview with the Vampire is a masterpiece, and an essential contribution to vampire mythology in film. If you've never seen it, I must strongly urge you to do so.