Jason Brant's Blog, page 27

Drinking with Jason #1

Well, I've been promising a podcast with me for quite a bit now, so I figured it was time for me to finally deliver. So here it is... Drinking with Jason. Each week, I'll sit down and shoot the shit with someone I find interesting. They'll tell me what their favorite alcoholic beverage is and we'll share a bottle or five together.

As you can probably guess, things will always get a bit... loose... as the episodes go on. I can't vouch for my stupidity by the end of each podcast.

NYT bestseller Elle Casey, who I co-authored a novel with (Aces High), was the first guest. She's hilarious and loves to give me a raft of shit every chance she gets. If the beginning of the episode feels a bit stilted, that's because we had to record the first five minutes twice, so we were repeating ourselves and it felt a bit weird.

Things get hilarious halfway through.

I hope dig it!

The Top 5 Best Vampire Movies in Honor of Valentine's Day

Spencer Blohm returns with another great post. What better to give your significant other for Valentine's Day than a bloodsucking movie? I can vouch for all of these movies, except The Hunger, which I'm ashamed to say that I haven't seen. Here's Spencer:
Vampires have been a distinct presence in horror cinema since F.W. Murnau's silent classic Nosferatu. Dracula has appeared in more films than any other character besides Sherlock Holmes. In the past few decades, romantic and erotic themes that have often dwelt just beneath the surface have risen to the forefront, most visibly in long form screen fictions like Twilight and True Blood. Here's a few hot vampire movies that'll be sure to get your blood pumping for Valentine's Day. Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles
This adaptation of Anne Rice's debut novel by The Crying Gamedirector Neil Jordan gets its sexual energy from a hot young cast, starring Brad Pitt as a lonely widower and Tom Cruise as the wicked Lestat. Our protagonists routinely use seduction as a means of acquiring their next meal, and the scene in which Lestat "gives birth" to Pitt's lonely Louis is charged with homoerotic subtext, as the two embrace and feed on one another in a ghoulish dance amidst a foggy graveyard. The highlight? A scene-stealing performance from a fiery young Kirsten Dunst. Bram Stoker’s Dracula
The seminal vampire novel gets the Hollywood treatment from Oscar winning director This 1987 film by director One of the best reviewed vampire movies of the past 20 years, this Swedish drama tells the story of a growing friendship between two lonely children - one of whom happens to be a vampire. The film, based on the 2004 novel of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist found a following stateside thanks to it’s availability to stream and on demand from Netflix and DTV. As a tender romance develops between the youths Eli and Oskar, locals begin to go missing and bullies become more aggressive at the schoolyard, building to a horrific climax. The Hunger
The temptation of immortality and its consequences are the themes at the center of this romantic horror from the late Top Gun director
What has made the vampire a staple of popular culture for so long? Perhaps it is that the central themes of vampire stories have a nearly universal appeal. The desire for eternal life exists in all of us, springing from the natural fear of death. The vampire is often cast in a sexual or romantic light, often due to the character's desire for companionship as a result of the self-imposed loneliness caused by their immortality. Whatever the allure, we can be sure that vampires will be entrancing film lovers for decades to come.
Thanks to Spencer for another great post. He's blogging on my site more than I am nowadays. I suck. (Pun intended.) (I'm so clever.)

ASH is FREE!

That's right - Ash (Asher Benson #1) is FREE! Join Oprah in a freebie freak out.

Happy New Year, dear freaks. To start 2015 off with a bang, I've decided to make Ash (Asher Benson #1) FREE. I know that most of you have read and loved The Hunger books and you've been kicking around the idea of trying my new series. Well, I've decided to make that decision easier by giving it to you for the beautiful price of $0. All I ask in return is that you give ol' Asher Benson a chance and if you enjoy the book to please leave it a review (just a single sentence helps me). Ash is my favorite character and if you enjoy my other work, I know that you'll love him too.


Amazon US, UKBarnes & NobleKoboAppleGoogleSmashwordsGoodreads
9 AM EST: A senator shoots himself on national television.

10:32 AM EST: An entire floor of government agents leap to their death from their office building.

12:57 PM EST: All the police officers inside a station murder each other.

And the day has just begun.

Lieutenant Asher Benson left Iraq with a traumatic brain injury, PTSD, and a Purple Heart. His doctors warned that the symptoms would be life altering. They had no idea. As his body healed, the thoughts of those around him began to echo through Ash’s mind, stretching the boundaries of his sanity.

Five years later, Ash is drowning the voices with copious amounts of booze and self-loathing.

When unidentified intelligence agents abduct him in broad daylight, Ash is thrust into a world of espionage and assassinations. A unique terrorist is operating on U.S. soil, and the government needs Ash, and the malady that has plagued him for half a decade, to find the killer.

*Ash is the first book in the Asher Benson thriller series, which is full of snarky humor and nonstop action.

The Horror of the Holidays by Spencer Blohm

This is a bit late for the season, but it's close enough for horse shoes and hand grenades. And government work. I know all about that crap.

Here's Spencer...

Halloween is over, and sadly, a lot of the best scary movies aren't playing on the television anymore. However, this does not mean that you have to stop watching horror films. Listed below are five of the most entertaining horror films that you can watch during Christmastime.


Santa's Slay

Released in 2005, Santa's Slay is a mixture of light horror and comedy with an original take on the story of Santa Claus. In this twist of a tale, Santa Claus is actually the son of Satan who once went on annual killing sprees; that is, until he lost a curling bet to an angel in the year 1005 AD. He was then forced to spread holiday cheer instead of horror for 1000 years. The bet is now over, and Santa is back. He kills everyone from the naughty to the nice when he comes to town, and only a hero ironically named Nicolas Yuleson can stop the murder rampage. This demon Santa is played by heavyweight champion
The Shining

Based on the book written by acclaimed horror novelist Stephen King, The Shining is a classic 1980 film for people who aren't afraid of the afterlife's dark side. The movie begins with a man named Jack Torrance (famous played by

Silent Night, Bloody Night

Silent Night, Bloody Night is the film to watch when you want to get scared to the edge of your seat while still wondering what's going to happen at the end. Horror movie enthusiasts enjoy this 1973 film for its classic slasher story combined with a Christmas theme. Starring

Gremlins

Devilish little monsters are the main attraction in Gremlins. Starring

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

It’s rare that a horror film is critically praised but Rare Exports stands out from the pack in more ways than that. In fact the notoriously difficult critic Roger Ebert praised the film calling it “original, daring, carefully crafted film”. This Finnish film itself serves as a twist on the origin of Santa from the team of Jalmari and Juuso Helander. Set by Finland’s Korvatunturi mountain it follows a group of citizens whose livelihood depends on the local reindeer for income and food. Up in the mountain American scientists start blasting away at their mountain, which leads the scientists to discover the monster frozens away hundreds of years before that we now call Santa Claus. The townspeople are obviously distraught when they come across legions of dead reindeer, unknowing of what’s been uncovered in the mountain. Unfortunately for them, their troubles are just starting as the children of the town disappear the next day.

Ask Me Anything 2 Video

Well...

You sure are an interesting bunch. There were some really funny questions and I had a good time answering them. I'll probably do another one of these again early next year.

If you enjoy the video, give it a thumbs up on YouTube. Or else.

Ask Me Anything II

It's time for another round of crazy questions from you and moronic answers from me. You can ask me literally anything you want and I will answer it in a video. Or, at least, acknowledge it and shit on you, me, or whoever.

So, in the comments here, ask a question and you shall receive something inane and pointless on YouTube.

Here is the first Ask Me Anything, in case you missed it.

Crappy Horror Movies with the Monster Men

The Monster Men had me on their show again. They might be even crazier than I am. We shot the shit about really, really bad horror movies. I'm talking THE HAPPENING levels of bad.

I broke out the trump card and mentioned Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare, which I blogged about extensively. If you haven't seen this, then you are really missing out. It has to be seen to be believed.

So, check out this episode of the Monster Men and give it a thumbs up on YouTube.

Talking Horror on the Monster Men Podcast

A few months ago, I wrote about a funny show called the Monster Men. It's a podcast that delves into all things horror, but does so with a lot of humor and general fuckery. It's a total blast and I made sure to subscribe on YouTube as soon as I found it.

I had the pleasure of jumping on for an episode or two last week and the results were pretty hilarious. Jack and Hunter are seriously funny dudes and I spent the majority of my time on their show trying not to laugh. Hopefully they'll have me on again sometime soon.

The topic at hand was found-footage movies. Now, these are usually utter crap. I still dig the format though, and there can be a lot of genuine scares if the filmmakers know what they're doing. Unfortunately for us, and for Netflix, they usually don't.

We talked about The Taking of Deborah Logan, Paranormal Activity, Evidence, Alien Abduction, Willow Creek, As Above, So Below, The Sacrament, and a whole lot more.

As always, I'm drinking beer and being an ass. It's what I do.

Give the video a thumbs up if you dig it.

Madness (Asher Benson #2) is Live!

This book was a long time in the making. Asher Benson has returned and he's as snarky and bad ass as ever. Here are the links:

Amazon | Nook | Kobo | Apple | Google Play | Smashwords | Paperback | Goodreads
---------------Asher Benson has once again fled to a secluded cabin in the mountains outside of the sleepy town of Arthur's Creek, West Virginia. Government agents surround him day and night, blanketing his entire life in constant surveillance under the guise of keeping him safe.

That facade is shattered when every cell phone in Arthur's Creek rings simultaneously. Anyone who answers the call is driven into a violent, psychotic madness that turns the entire town into a slaughterhouse.

And Ash is caught in the middle of it all.
----------------
If you enjoy the novel, please review it!

Madness (Asher Benson #2) Cover Reveal

Asher Benson has once again fled to a secluded cabin in the mountains outside of the sleepy town of Arthur's Creek, West Virginia. Government agents surround him day and night, blanketing his entire life in constant surveillance under the guise of keeping him safe.

That facade is shattered when every cell phone in Arthur's Creek rings simultaneously. Anyone who answers the call is driven into a violent, psychotic madness that turns the entire town into a slaughterhouse.

And Ash is caught in the middle of it all.
-Madness releases this week!