Stephen Kozeniewski's Blog, page 51
February 11, 2016
Women in Horror Month #7: J. Rudolph, Author of THE REANIMATES Series
Welcome back to Women in Horror Month on Manuscripts Burn!
Today I'm pleased to introduce a real-life hero: nurse of fifteen years J. Rudolph! She is also a prolific author of such horror titles as THE REANIMATES series and contributed to the AT HELL'S GATES charity anthologies. Rather than chew your ear off with more introduction, let's jump right into her bio and then check out her interview.
About J. Rudolph:
J. Rudolph is the author of the zombie series THE REANIMATES, and the young adult paranormal mystery, HADLEY'S HAUNTING. Born in 1977, she resides in Southern California with her husband, son, two turtles (who she claims own all rights to her house and allow the people to live there, since only they can open the food jars) and her maniacal bird (who seems to have developed a taste for flesh in its lifetime). As a nurse with over fifteen years of experience, she often incorporates an element of medical training in her stories, offering authenticity to her medically-minded characters. She also offers authenticity to her zombie series--she calls herself a living dead girl ever since her spinal reconstruction in 2014.
You can find her on her website, Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter.
You should pick up copies of Book 1, Book 2, and Book 3 of her REANIMATES series.
Interview:
SK: What are your horror bona fides?
JR: I started off in the nursing field in 2000 where there were many horror and several supernatural stories all around. THE COMPLEX, my first full length novel was published in 2012 as self pubbed and over the next two years, I released two more books in the zombie series, completing THE REANIMATES and added a YA paranormal mystery, HADLEY'S HAUNTING to the group. In 2014 I signed with Winlock Press, an imprint of Permuted Press. In 2015 the zombie series was rereleased under the Winlock label and in 2016 HADLEY will be available.
SK: Who or what terrifies you?
JR: It's a running joke in the medical field that we can handle blood and germs and death, but lice and bed bugs send us screaming for the hills. This is true for me too. Little parasitic creepy crawly things takes that fear level to a 10. Oh, and moths. Moths make me look like a crazy person freaking out.
SK: Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?
JR: In 2012, which interestingly enough was only 4 years ago, there were more challenges than now. When I started working on the first book? It was assumed that I was writing a love story. This idea didn't go away when I explained that it was a zombie story because 98% of the time it was still going to be a romance; something like WARM BODIES was; or at least two young lovers that were separated by cruel fates. Nowadays I say horror and they don't ask if it's just a dark romance; well, not right away, anyways!
SK: Who are your favorite female horror icons?
JR: There are several female artists that I admire. In the writing circuit Mira Grant, Jacqueline Druga, and Crystal Connor are beyond awesome.
SK: What are you working on/promoting currently? Why should folks check it out?
JR: Recently I started working on a new zombie trilogy, am in the process of rewrites with a medical apocalypse story, and there a few other plot bunnies that been going at it.
As for the why? I write the stories about the everyday people. There may be an ultra elite fix-it squad running around my character's world, but my characters never met them and life had to continue. While rescue would be nice and they would rather have something normal, they aren't going to sit around and wait for it.
About THE COMPLEX:
Nothing stays the way we want it to. A virus that went awry and a plague of zombies made sure of that.
Cali Anglin learned the hard way. Before, her life was simple. She was a mom, a wife, and a nurse. Now she is in a fight of her life to save her family, her neighbors, and herself.
How do you survive the zombie apocalypse with your humanity intact?
Today I'm pleased to introduce a real-life hero: nurse of fifteen years J. Rudolph! She is also a prolific author of such horror titles as THE REANIMATES series and contributed to the AT HELL'S GATES charity anthologies. Rather than chew your ear off with more introduction, let's jump right into her bio and then check out her interview.
About J. Rudolph:
J. Rudolph is the author of the zombie series THE REANIMATES, and the young adult paranormal mystery, HADLEY'S HAUNTING. Born in 1977, she resides in Southern California with her husband, son, two turtles (who she claims own all rights to her house and allow the people to live there, since only they can open the food jars) and her maniacal bird (who seems to have developed a taste for flesh in its lifetime). As a nurse with over fifteen years of experience, she often incorporates an element of medical training in her stories, offering authenticity to her medically-minded characters. She also offers authenticity to her zombie series--she calls herself a living dead girl ever since her spinal reconstruction in 2014.
You can find her on her website, Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter.
You should pick up copies of Book 1, Book 2, and Book 3 of her REANIMATES series.
Interview:
SK: What are your horror bona fides?
JR: I started off in the nursing field in 2000 where there were many horror and several supernatural stories all around. THE COMPLEX, my first full length novel was published in 2012 as self pubbed and over the next two years, I released two more books in the zombie series, completing THE REANIMATES and added a YA paranormal mystery, HADLEY'S HAUNTING to the group. In 2014 I signed with Winlock Press, an imprint of Permuted Press. In 2015 the zombie series was rereleased under the Winlock label and in 2016 HADLEY will be available.
SK: Who or what terrifies you?
JR: It's a running joke in the medical field that we can handle blood and germs and death, but lice and bed bugs send us screaming for the hills. This is true for me too. Little parasitic creepy crawly things takes that fear level to a 10. Oh, and moths. Moths make me look like a crazy person freaking out.
SK: Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?
JR: In 2012, which interestingly enough was only 4 years ago, there were more challenges than now. When I started working on the first book? It was assumed that I was writing a love story. This idea didn't go away when I explained that it was a zombie story because 98% of the time it was still going to be a romance; something like WARM BODIES was; or at least two young lovers that were separated by cruel fates. Nowadays I say horror and they don't ask if it's just a dark romance; well, not right away, anyways!
SK: Who are your favorite female horror icons?
JR: There are several female artists that I admire. In the writing circuit Mira Grant, Jacqueline Druga, and Crystal Connor are beyond awesome.
SK: What are you working on/promoting currently? Why should folks check it out?
JR: Recently I started working on a new zombie trilogy, am in the process of rewrites with a medical apocalypse story, and there a few other plot bunnies that been going at it.
As for the why? I write the stories about the everyday people. There may be an ultra elite fix-it squad running around my character's world, but my characters never met them and life had to continue. While rescue would be nice and they would rather have something normal, they aren't going to sit around and wait for it.
About THE COMPLEX:
Nothing stays the way we want it to. A virus that went awry and a plague of zombies made sure of that.
Cali Anglin learned the hard way. Before, her life was simple. She was a mom, a wife, and a nurse. Now she is in a fight of her life to save her family, her neighbors, and herself.
How do you survive the zombie apocalypse with your humanity intact?
February 10, 2016
Women in Horror Month #6: E.M. MacCallum, Reviewer and Author of the THE DEMON'S GRAVE Trilogy
I'm pleased to welcome one of my very favorite women in horror to the WiHM interview series: E.M. MacCallum!
E.M. is a prolific reviewer of all things horror and last year she dipped her toe into the field with her own writing. Let's not waste any more time on this introduction so we can jump right into the bio and interview.
About E. M. MacCallum
Living in the backwoods somewhere in Alberta, Canada, E.M. MacCallum spends most of her time reading, stabbing at her keyboard and transferring the stories in her head onto paper.
Currently she is hard at work on her next story and also running The Reader's Hollow blog which is about books, stories and those who love them.
You can find her on Twitter, her author Facebook, her blog The Reader's Hollow, The Reader's Hollow Facebook, and her website.
Interview:
SK: What are your horror bona fides?
EMM: I am the author of the western/horror novella ZOMBIE-KILLER BILL, and the dark urban fantasy trilogy THE DEMON'S GRAVE. I've also written several short stories in various horror, and paranormal anthologies.
SK: Who or what terrifies you?
EMM: Laundry. But, that's likely not what you were looking for. For fears, I think it would be thinking I'm safe when I'm not. For example, a few weeks back, in a city I live by, a couple woke up to see a large man standing over their bed. He stabbed them both, then fled. They're not in critical condition and will be fine, but I don't think my mind would take that well.
SK: Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?
EMM: I might be a minority on this, but honestly, I haven't had problems with being a woman who writes, and loves horror. More and more women are being known in this genre, and though it's dominated by men, there's still a healthy portion of up-and-coming women. I've heard of some people not picking up a horror book if a there was a female writer, but their loss.
SK: Who are your favorite female horror icons?
EMM: First one that came to mind was Alice from the "Resident Evil" movies. She kicked ass, took names, and started rebellions. It's kind of badass. Plus, I hear she's playable in "Resident Evil 7."
SK: What are you working on currently? Why should folks check it out?
EMM: I'm currently working on a horror/paranormal project. I haven't read anything like it before, so I think that might draw in some readers. It's about a demon, and his collection of ghost girls. His newest addition has to find a way to escape her contract, but that means coming to terms with the life she left behind.
About THE DEMON'S GRAVE:
When strange shadows and messages plague Nora's daily life she fears for her sanity. To escape questions from her family, Nora joins her friends on a weekend getaway. Despite not liking Aidan Birket, Nora finds his remote, Victorian house charming. Until they discover the marble doorway on the third floor and, against Nora's better judgment, they open it.
Drawn into an unfamiliar place called the Demon's Grave, the group face a charismatic demon and a set of Challenges. Six nightmarish realities for the six of them is the punishment. Those that make it to the end can go home, but those that don't will be his forever. Friendships are tested, secrets revealed and sacrifices will be made.
Nora battles zombies, doppelgängers, eyeless bikers, and the demon--whose interests are more than just a game of cat and mouse. If it's all in her head, then it should be easy. But, if not, it means the demon knows everything and her past and the death of her twin sister.
E.M. is a prolific reviewer of all things horror and last year she dipped her toe into the field with her own writing. Let's not waste any more time on this introduction so we can jump right into the bio and interview.
About E. M. MacCallum
Living in the backwoods somewhere in Alberta, Canada, E.M. MacCallum spends most of her time reading, stabbing at her keyboard and transferring the stories in her head onto paper.
Currently she is hard at work on her next story and also running The Reader's Hollow blog which is about books, stories and those who love them.
You can find her on Twitter, her author Facebook, her blog The Reader's Hollow, The Reader's Hollow Facebook, and her website.
Interview:
SK: What are your horror bona fides?
EMM: I am the author of the western/horror novella ZOMBIE-KILLER BILL, and the dark urban fantasy trilogy THE DEMON'S GRAVE. I've also written several short stories in various horror, and paranormal anthologies.
SK: Who or what terrifies you?
EMM: Laundry. But, that's likely not what you were looking for. For fears, I think it would be thinking I'm safe when I'm not. For example, a few weeks back, in a city I live by, a couple woke up to see a large man standing over their bed. He stabbed them both, then fled. They're not in critical condition and will be fine, but I don't think my mind would take that well.
SK: Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?
EMM: I might be a minority on this, but honestly, I haven't had problems with being a woman who writes, and loves horror. More and more women are being known in this genre, and though it's dominated by men, there's still a healthy portion of up-and-coming women. I've heard of some people not picking up a horror book if a there was a female writer, but their loss.
SK: Who are your favorite female horror icons?
EMM: First one that came to mind was Alice from the "Resident Evil" movies. She kicked ass, took names, and started rebellions. It's kind of badass. Plus, I hear she's playable in "Resident Evil 7."
SK: What are you working on currently? Why should folks check it out?
EMM: I'm currently working on a horror/paranormal project. I haven't read anything like it before, so I think that might draw in some readers. It's about a demon, and his collection of ghost girls. His newest addition has to find a way to escape her contract, but that means coming to terms with the life she left behind.
About THE DEMON'S GRAVE:
When strange shadows and messages plague Nora's daily life she fears for her sanity. To escape questions from her family, Nora joins her friends on a weekend getaway. Despite not liking Aidan Birket, Nora finds his remote, Victorian house charming. Until they discover the marble doorway on the third floor and, against Nora's better judgment, they open it.
Drawn into an unfamiliar place called the Demon's Grave, the group face a charismatic demon and a set of Challenges. Six nightmarish realities for the six of them is the punishment. Those that make it to the end can go home, but those that don't will be his forever. Friendships are tested, secrets revealed and sacrifices will be made.
Nora battles zombies, doppelgängers, eyeless bikers, and the demon--whose interests are more than just a game of cat and mouse. If it's all in her head, then it should be easy. But, if not, it means the demon knows everything and her past and the death of her twin sister.
February 9, 2016
Women in Horror Month #5: Samantha Kolesnik, Producer of "Rainy Season"
Welcome back, everybody, to the Manuscripts Burn Women in Horror Month interview series!
I know you're all avid readers, but did you know that some people also absorb horror through movies? I know, it shocked me as well, but when film producer Samantha Kolesnik reached out to me about her short film "Rainy Season" based on the short story by Stephen King, I guess I learned something about this crazy community of ours. So now let's meet her and learn a little bit about the movie.
About Samantha Kolesnik:
Samantha Kolesnik is a writer and film producer living near Philadelphia, PA. She is the Editor in Chief of "Five on the Fifth," an online literary magazine. She recently wrote and co-produced with Hollow Tree Films, LLC the short psychological horror film, "The Price of Bones." Her short story, "Christmas Morning" was recently published in "Rose Red Review," and her short story, "I Baked Him a Cake" is forthcoming in "Hypnos Magazine."
Interview:
SK: What are your horror bona fides? Who have you scared?
SK: For me, it's about subtlety and suspense - the possibility and probability that something is about to go terribly wrong. Often, the less you see the monster, and the less you know about it, the scarier it is. I can easily conjure to mind the eerie short story by Joyce Carol Oates, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been". The reader never knows what happens. And nothing bad exactly happens in the story, but what is about to happen, what could happen - it's terrifying. I recently scared some of my friends who read my story, "I Baked Him a Cake" which is forthcoming in the spring issue of "Hypnos Magazine." It's about a little girl who loves her father so much she is going to bake him a cake on his birthday. Innocent enough. Only, where is Dad?
SK: Who or what terrifies you?
SK: Mostly people. People have a capacity for evil inside of them that is incredibly frightening.
SK: Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?
SK: There are unique challenges, especially for actresses who want to be in horror films. There aren't enough roles out there that do justice to their abilities. A lot of scripts limit their range. A lot of it is, "What do you look like running with your top off?" I'm a huge fan of slasher flicks, don't get me wrong, but I want to give women more than that. One of my favorite female horror performances - Kathy Bates in "Misery" - now that was an awesome female horror role! I want more of that, and I aim to make it happen.
SK: Who are your favorite female horror icons?
SK: My favorite female horror icon right now is
SK: What are you working on/promoting currently? Why should folks check it out?
I just finished producing a short horror film I wrote, "The Price of Bones", with Hollow Tree Films, LLC, a NY-based film production company owned by Brandon Taylor, Melissa Sherry, and Michael Sherry. It's a psychological horror short with an all-female cast. The main character, Caprice - she and her mother are creepiness incarnate. It's not full of jump scares - it's dark and it creeps under your skin. It's in post right now and we can't wait to share it with the world. The second project I am working on is "Rainy Season", a film based on a short story by Stephen King. It's a crazy good story - and it's being produced by Vanessa Ionta Wright, who also wrote the script. She's amazing. We're currently crowdfunding for the project and would love support to make it happen.
About "Rainy Season:"
when it rains...they pour
Indiegogo
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
I know you're all avid readers, but did you know that some people also absorb horror through movies? I know, it shocked me as well, but when film producer Samantha Kolesnik reached out to me about her short film "Rainy Season" based on the short story by Stephen King, I guess I learned something about this crazy community of ours. So now let's meet her and learn a little bit about the movie.
About Samantha Kolesnik:
Samantha Kolesnik is a writer and film producer living near Philadelphia, PA. She is the Editor in Chief of "Five on the Fifth," an online literary magazine. She recently wrote and co-produced with Hollow Tree Films, LLC the short psychological horror film, "The Price of Bones." Her short story, "Christmas Morning" was recently published in "Rose Red Review," and her short story, "I Baked Him a Cake" is forthcoming in "Hypnos Magazine."
Interview:
SK: What are your horror bona fides? Who have you scared?
SK: For me, it's about subtlety and suspense - the possibility and probability that something is about to go terribly wrong. Often, the less you see the monster, and the less you know about it, the scarier it is. I can easily conjure to mind the eerie short story by Joyce Carol Oates, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been". The reader never knows what happens. And nothing bad exactly happens in the story, but what is about to happen, what could happen - it's terrifying. I recently scared some of my friends who read my story, "I Baked Him a Cake" which is forthcoming in the spring issue of "Hypnos Magazine." It's about a little girl who loves her father so much she is going to bake him a cake on his birthday. Innocent enough. Only, where is Dad?
SK: Who or what terrifies you?
SK: Mostly people. People have a capacity for evil inside of them that is incredibly frightening.
SK: Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?
SK: There are unique challenges, especially for actresses who want to be in horror films. There aren't enough roles out there that do justice to their abilities. A lot of scripts limit their range. A lot of it is, "What do you look like running with your top off?" I'm a huge fan of slasher flicks, don't get me wrong, but I want to give women more than that. One of my favorite female horror performances - Kathy Bates in "Misery" - now that was an awesome female horror role! I want more of that, and I aim to make it happen.
SK: Who are your favorite female horror icons?
SK: My favorite female horror icon right now is
SK: What are you working on/promoting currently? Why should folks check it out?
I just finished producing a short horror film I wrote, "The Price of Bones", with Hollow Tree Films, LLC, a NY-based film production company owned by Brandon Taylor, Melissa Sherry, and Michael Sherry. It's a psychological horror short with an all-female cast. The main character, Caprice - she and her mother are creepiness incarnate. It's not full of jump scares - it's dark and it creeps under your skin. It's in post right now and we can't wait to share it with the world. The second project I am working on is "Rainy Season", a film based on a short story by Stephen King. It's a crazy good story - and it's being produced by Vanessa Ionta Wright, who also wrote the script. She's amazing. We're currently crowdfunding for the project and would love support to make it happen.
About "Rainy Season:"
when it rains...they pour
Indiegogo
Website
February 8, 2016
Women in Horror Month #4: Sharon Stevenson, Reviewer and Author of the GALLOWS Series
Welcome back to our ongoing Women in Horror Month interview series! I'm delighted to finally have today's guest on the blog as a proper (or, as they would say in the UK, "proper") guest, although of course you've seen her around before.
Sharon Stevenson is a voracious reader and reviewer of horror literature, and has reviewed all of my work, so I guess she must like it, which is good, because I like her work, too. Devan Sagliani has called her "his secret weapon" and I have to concur, so I'm glad she's on our side.
Sharon's own contributions to the genre are mind-bogglingly good and include the GALLOWS vampire hunter novels, the AFTER DEATH zombie series, and shorts in the AT HELL'S GATES anthology series. But you're not here to listen to me yammer, you're here to meet the guest and read her interview, so let's jump right in.
About Sharon Stevenson:
Sharon Stevenson is the twisted mind behind the GALLOWS novels and the AFTER DEATH series. If you want to know a bit about her, here it is: she spends too much time indoors and probably watches too many horror films. Some of her favourite things are: alone time, people who know when to shut up, having a drink, eating pizza (usually after having too much drink the night before), reading books, adult swim cartoons, bad horror and sci-fi movies, proper good TV shows like "Dexter" & "The Walking Dead," and last but not least having a laugh with her hilarious other half – this would usually include some of the above.
You can find her on Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, and her blog.
INTERVIEW
SK: What are your horror bona fides?
SS: My love of horror really grew from a mix of watching horror movies and reading Stephen King books. I always loved Halloween and spooky books and stories when I was a kid, but it wasn't until I was about eleven that I really got into it. I was fascinated by ghosts and the supernatural, and that's something that hasn't changed. I watched the "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Hellraiser" movies over and over again when I was a teenager. I wore out the tapes (and then bought them on DVD.) Going to a Fangoria convention in New York about 12 years ago and meeting Jeffrey Combs and
SK: Who or what terrifies you?
SS: Basically I'm terrified of death and having zero control over when it might happen. Having an overactive imagination doesn't really help. When my husband's away I get paranoid about someone getting into the house. I wake up in the middle of the night convinced some creep is going to be standing at the foot of the bed with a knife in his hand. And I hate rollercoasters. Every time I'm convinced to ride one of those damn things the goriest, most messed up imagery floods my brain. It's like "Final Destination." I'm convinced the thing is going to derail and kill everyone in a really gruesome way. Death is unpredictable and freaks me the hell out. You never know when you're gonna go.
SK: Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?
SS: I feel like gender is irrelevant in general, but not everyone feels the same way and that's what sucks. A lot of the big names in horror are male. I'd like to add more female names to that list and I wouldn't mind if I was one of them! Watch out Stephen King...
SK: Who are your favorite female horror icons?
SS: There are a ton of horror movie heroines I could list here so I'm going to keep it short. Got to say Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode. And I love Sarah Paulson - she's been amazing in every season of "American Horror Story", particularly in "Asylum" which was the best season overall.
SK: What are you working on currently? Why should folks check it out?
SS: I'm working on a couple of standalone horror novels; one supernatural horror with a strong female lead, and one weird dystopian slasher with alien stuff going on. I have no idea when I'll be releasing them as they're only half-done right now. I have two existing urban fantasy series with horror elements and strong female characters, and I have entertaining horror shorts in the AT HELL'S GATES anthologies, which I urge readers to check out right now as the proceeds benefit the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund and every story in the existing volumes is pretty damn brilliant.
About RAISED:
In a world where magic crashed to earth in a rusty spaceship full of starving blood suckers, it’s not easy being a reanimated dead guy. Take Pete’s undead word for it…
Pete has been murdered by a mentally unhinged and suicidal one night stand. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he’s been reanimated for reasons unknown by… persons unknown. This makes him an Animate without an owner, the human equivalent of a stray dog.
Afraid of who his owner may be and what they have planned for his undead ass, Pete does the only thing he can; he goes on the run. The King’s Guard are Scotland’s primary recruiters for Animates so Pete knows he has to leave Edinburgh to escape a fate that terrifies him.
The portal to Las Vegas could be his only hope or his biggest mistake...
Can Pete escape enslavement when it’s what he’s been raised for?
Sharon Stevenson is a voracious reader and reviewer of horror literature, and has reviewed all of my work, so I guess she must like it, which is good, because I like her work, too. Devan Sagliani has called her "his secret weapon" and I have to concur, so I'm glad she's on our side.
Sharon's own contributions to the genre are mind-bogglingly good and include the GALLOWS vampire hunter novels, the AFTER DEATH zombie series, and shorts in the AT HELL'S GATES anthology series. But you're not here to listen to me yammer, you're here to meet the guest and read her interview, so let's jump right in.
About Sharon Stevenson:
Sharon Stevenson is the twisted mind behind the GALLOWS novels and the AFTER DEATH series. If you want to know a bit about her, here it is: she spends too much time indoors and probably watches too many horror films. Some of her favourite things are: alone time, people who know when to shut up, having a drink, eating pizza (usually after having too much drink the night before), reading books, adult swim cartoons, bad horror and sci-fi movies, proper good TV shows like "Dexter" & "The Walking Dead," and last but not least having a laugh with her hilarious other half – this would usually include some of the above.
You can find her on Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, and her blog.
INTERVIEW
SK: What are your horror bona fides?
SS: My love of horror really grew from a mix of watching horror movies and reading Stephen King books. I always loved Halloween and spooky books and stories when I was a kid, but it wasn't until I was about eleven that I really got into it. I was fascinated by ghosts and the supernatural, and that's something that hasn't changed. I watched the "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Hellraiser" movies over and over again when I was a teenager. I wore out the tapes (and then bought them on DVD.) Going to a Fangoria convention in New York about 12 years ago and meeting Jeffrey Combs and
SK: Who or what terrifies you?
SS: Basically I'm terrified of death and having zero control over when it might happen. Having an overactive imagination doesn't really help. When my husband's away I get paranoid about someone getting into the house. I wake up in the middle of the night convinced some creep is going to be standing at the foot of the bed with a knife in his hand. And I hate rollercoasters. Every time I'm convinced to ride one of those damn things the goriest, most messed up imagery floods my brain. It's like "Final Destination." I'm convinced the thing is going to derail and kill everyone in a really gruesome way. Death is unpredictable and freaks me the hell out. You never know when you're gonna go.
SK: Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?
SS: I feel like gender is irrelevant in general, but not everyone feels the same way and that's what sucks. A lot of the big names in horror are male. I'd like to add more female names to that list and I wouldn't mind if I was one of them! Watch out Stephen King...
SK: Who are your favorite female horror icons?
SS: There are a ton of horror movie heroines I could list here so I'm going to keep it short. Got to say Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode. And I love Sarah Paulson - she's been amazing in every season of "American Horror Story", particularly in "Asylum" which was the best season overall.
SK: What are you working on currently? Why should folks check it out?
SS: I'm working on a couple of standalone horror novels; one supernatural horror with a strong female lead, and one weird dystopian slasher with alien stuff going on. I have no idea when I'll be releasing them as they're only half-done right now. I have two existing urban fantasy series with horror elements and strong female characters, and I have entertaining horror shorts in the AT HELL'S GATES anthologies, which I urge readers to check out right now as the proceeds benefit the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund and every story in the existing volumes is pretty damn brilliant.
About RAISED:
In a world where magic crashed to earth in a rusty spaceship full of starving blood suckers, it’s not easy being a reanimated dead guy. Take Pete’s undead word for it…
Pete has been murdered by a mentally unhinged and suicidal one night stand. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he’s been reanimated for reasons unknown by… persons unknown. This makes him an Animate without an owner, the human equivalent of a stray dog.
Afraid of who his owner may be and what they have planned for his undead ass, Pete does the only thing he can; he goes on the run. The King’s Guard are Scotland’s primary recruiters for Animates so Pete knows he has to leave Edinburgh to escape a fate that terrifies him.
The portal to Las Vegas could be his only hope or his biggest mistake...
Can Pete escape enslavement when it’s what he’s been raised for?
February 5, 2016
Women in Horror Month #3: Lily Luchesi, Author of the PARANORMAL DETECTIVES Series
For entry three in our Women in Horror Month series, I'm glad to welcome back another familiar face: Lily Luchesi, author of the PARANORMAL DETECTIVES series.
Lily is a regular fixture here and a legend in her own right, so rather than waste too much of your time with a preamble, let's jump right into the introduction and interview.
About Lily Luchesi:
Lily Luchesi is a young author living in Los Angeles, CA. her debut novel, STAKE-OUT (PARANORMAL DETECTIVES Series Book One), was published by Vamptasy Publishing on May 19th, 2015. Book Two, MIRANDA'S RIGHTS, was released on January 8th, 2016.
She has a short story, "Undead Ever After" in the Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly anthology LOVE SUCKS (released on June 13th, 2015). Her first erotic short story, "Have No Fears", was published in the Hot Ink Press anthology NAUGHTY BEDTIME STORIES: IN THREE WORDS on October 10th. She will also have a short erotic horror story, "The Devil's Dozen", in the upcoming Hot Ink Press anthology DEATH, LOVE, LUST which will be released on February 4th, 2016. Her short horror story "Too Young To Kill" will be released later this year in the CHBB anthology LURKING IN THE SHADOWS.
You can find Lily on her website, Amazon, Twitter, her business Facebook, her personal Facebook, Instagram, and Goodreads.
INTERVIEW:
SK: What are your horror bona fides?
LL: Anything. Anything can be made into something scary. Who would have found those little monkeys with the cymbals to be creepy? I didn't until I read Stephen King's short "The Monkey". Horror should be able to make you uneasy by its tone, the way the author can weave darkness and terror into the mundane. Of course, I love monsters like vampires and demons, but horror doesn't need to use the supernatural so directly. That is how I prefer to write, but that is not the be all end all of the genre. If you can creep me out using unusual plot devices, you have my admiration as a horror writer.
SK: Who or what terrifies you?
LL: Fire absolutely terrifies me, as does drowning and/or asphyxiation of any sort. Don't get me started on spiders! (Or Republicans, but that's a discussion for another time.) I don't scare easily. I think I find the real world, with its disease, uncertainty, financial bankruptcy, and moral bankruptcy more frightening than anything my nightmares can whip up. We live in a world where money is worshiped, the poor or the minority is oppressed, and we have people vying for leadership that might take us to 1940's Germany.
Give me some monsters, a haunted house, or brutal murder any day.
SK: Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?
LL: I think gender is a big deal because we still have to celebrate the fact that there are women in horror. For decades, women have been terrifying readers. From Anne Rice (and yes, some of her work was frightening) to Shirley Jackson, female horror writers have inspired many people, male and female alike. Mary Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN is still used today to highlight classic horror. I could go on, but just allow me to say that I am glad to be a part of the horror genre. I am glad we live in a time when women can write what they want. I have loved horror since I was a child, and I will never let my gender hinder me whatsoever. I think the only challenges women in horror face are ones we make for ourselves, or those which misogynists make for us. They're not real, and they are easily avoidable.
SK: Who are your favorite female horror icons?
LL: If you're talking fictional, I love Dolores Claiborne, Rosie McClendon, Annie Wilkes, and Mother Abigail; they are just the tip of the iceberg. Going in a non-literary direction, how can someone not love Elvira, Morticia, or Lily (Munster, I mean, not me)? When it comes to real people, I love Shirley Jackson, but I read more indie published female horror authors than I do mainstream ones.
SK: What are you working on/promoting currently? Why should folks check it out?
LL: I have released my second novel, MIRANDA'S RIGHTS, and it is the second book in the PARANORMAL DETECTIVES series. It follows the story of mortal cop Danny and half-vampire special agent Angelica as they battle demons, witches, and renegade werewolves and keep the city of Chicago safe. It is the continuation of the first book in the series, STAKE-OUT, and you should check it out because it features an original female lead, has a lot of action, and is also a crime drama as well as being paranormal. It will go from serious and procedural to a bloodbath in the space of a few paragraphs, and features a backstory that will (hopefully) make you want to come back for more.
About MIRANDA'S RIGHTS:
The dead don’t always rest easy...
Retired detective Danny Mancini is haunted by nightmares after he found out that paranormal creatures exist. All he wants is to forget them…especially a certain half-vampire. When cursed werewolves show up trying to kill him, he is forced to go back to the Paranormal Investigative Division for help against a powerful old enemy. What he was not expecting was a dead ex showing back up after twenty-six years.
Buy it now on Amazon and add it to your Goodreads!
Cover art by Rue Volley
Lily is a regular fixture here and a legend in her own right, so rather than waste too much of your time with a preamble, let's jump right into the introduction and interview.
About Lily Luchesi:
Lily Luchesi is a young author living in Los Angeles, CA. her debut novel, STAKE-OUT (PARANORMAL DETECTIVES Series Book One), was published by Vamptasy Publishing on May 19th, 2015. Book Two, MIRANDA'S RIGHTS, was released on January 8th, 2016.
She has a short story, "Undead Ever After" in the Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly anthology LOVE SUCKS (released on June 13th, 2015). Her first erotic short story, "Have No Fears", was published in the Hot Ink Press anthology NAUGHTY BEDTIME STORIES: IN THREE WORDS on October 10th. She will also have a short erotic horror story, "The Devil's Dozen", in the upcoming Hot Ink Press anthology DEATH, LOVE, LUST which will be released on February 4th, 2016. Her short horror story "Too Young To Kill" will be released later this year in the CHBB anthology LURKING IN THE SHADOWS.
You can find Lily on her website, Amazon, Twitter, her business Facebook, her personal Facebook, Instagram, and Goodreads.
INTERVIEW:
SK: What are your horror bona fides?
LL: Anything. Anything can be made into something scary. Who would have found those little monkeys with the cymbals to be creepy? I didn't until I read Stephen King's short "The Monkey". Horror should be able to make you uneasy by its tone, the way the author can weave darkness and terror into the mundane. Of course, I love monsters like vampires and demons, but horror doesn't need to use the supernatural so directly. That is how I prefer to write, but that is not the be all end all of the genre. If you can creep me out using unusual plot devices, you have my admiration as a horror writer.
SK: Who or what terrifies you?
LL: Fire absolutely terrifies me, as does drowning and/or asphyxiation of any sort. Don't get me started on spiders! (Or Republicans, but that's a discussion for another time.) I don't scare easily. I think I find the real world, with its disease, uncertainty, financial bankruptcy, and moral bankruptcy more frightening than anything my nightmares can whip up. We live in a world where money is worshiped, the poor or the minority is oppressed, and we have people vying for leadership that might take us to 1940's Germany.
Give me some monsters, a haunted house, or brutal murder any day.
SK: Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?
LL: I think gender is a big deal because we still have to celebrate the fact that there are women in horror. For decades, women have been terrifying readers. From Anne Rice (and yes, some of her work was frightening) to Shirley Jackson, female horror writers have inspired many people, male and female alike. Mary Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN is still used today to highlight classic horror. I could go on, but just allow me to say that I am glad to be a part of the horror genre. I am glad we live in a time when women can write what they want. I have loved horror since I was a child, and I will never let my gender hinder me whatsoever. I think the only challenges women in horror face are ones we make for ourselves, or those which misogynists make for us. They're not real, and they are easily avoidable.
SK: Who are your favorite female horror icons?
LL: If you're talking fictional, I love Dolores Claiborne, Rosie McClendon, Annie Wilkes, and Mother Abigail; they are just the tip of the iceberg. Going in a non-literary direction, how can someone not love Elvira, Morticia, or Lily (Munster, I mean, not me)? When it comes to real people, I love Shirley Jackson, but I read more indie published female horror authors than I do mainstream ones.
SK: What are you working on/promoting currently? Why should folks check it out?
LL: I have released my second novel, MIRANDA'S RIGHTS, and it is the second book in the PARANORMAL DETECTIVES series. It follows the story of mortal cop Danny and half-vampire special agent Angelica as they battle demons, witches, and renegade werewolves and keep the city of Chicago safe. It is the continuation of the first book in the series, STAKE-OUT, and you should check it out because it features an original female lead, has a lot of action, and is also a crime drama as well as being paranormal. It will go from serious and procedural to a bloodbath in the space of a few paragraphs, and features a backstory that will (hopefully) make you want to come back for more.
About MIRANDA'S RIGHTS:
The dead don’t always rest easy...
Retired detective Danny Mancini is haunted by nightmares after he found out that paranormal creatures exist. All he wants is to forget them…especially a certain half-vampire. When cursed werewolves show up trying to kill him, he is forced to go back to the Paranormal Investigative Division for help against a powerful old enemy. What he was not expecting was a dead ex showing back up after twenty-six years.
Buy it now on Amazon and add it to your Goodreads!
Cover art by Rue Volley
February 3, 2016
Women in Horror Month #2: A. Giacomi, Author of the ZOMBIE GIRL series
I'm very pleased to welcome a familiar face as our second guest for Women in Horror Month. She's stopped by the blog before and even earned a rare Manuscripts Burn review for her debut novel EVE BRENNER: ZOMBIE GIRL.
A. Giacomi (aka The Poetic Zombie) is one of the bright lights in the degrading darkness that is my social media feed. She's a mother to a brand new person (and another, slightly less brand new person) and also wrangles little tiny Kindergarten-aged people for a living. And somehow she still has time to write poetry and zombie novels.
About A. Giacomi:
Who is PZ?
A. Giacomi is an author, artist, and educator from Toronto, Canada. She is the mother of two tiny humans who inspire her to create weird and wonderful works that are both giggle-worthy, bizarre, and unique. When she’s not hanging out with her family she can be found slapping paint around or typing at light speed on her laptop (that is, when the rest of the house is napping or sleeping.)
Although she mainly writes in the horror/supernatural genre, she also dabbles in poetry, thus gaining the nickname: The Poetic Zombie. She’s a big fan of “cute” but “creepy” which started when she was a wee one and read lots and lots of R.L Stine way past her bedtime. That and she loves zombies! She never misses a TWD or iZombie episode, and the comics? Don’t even get her started on her love of comics! To her, they’re art!
You can find out more about her on Twitter, Facebook, and Amazon.
Interview:
SK: What are your horror bona fides?
AG: I'm a verified horror fan since the young age of five. Yep five year old me loved scary everything! I was the kid who went all out for Halloween and I never wanted to be the pretty pretty princess (unless of course I could be a zombie princess). I secretly wish everyday was Halloween!
The first horror film I ever saw was "Evil Dead", sure it was a bit campy but I'm still quite a fan of campy horror classics. I love the cheesy make-up and special effects. Give me a classic monster movie any day and I'm a happy Crystal Lake Camper.
Along with loving horror films, horror is pretty much all I read. If I can't be frightened by what I read then I don't enjoy it as much. Sure I read other things, but I can't help loving the adrenaline rush of a creepy tale!
SK: Who or what terrifies you?
AG: Believe it or not what really scares me is real life. Watching the news these days is horrifying enough. Ghosts? No problem! Zombie apocalypse? I have a whole escape planned out, but real people? They're sort of unpredictable, unlike horror movies which are fairly predictable and formulaic. On a side note, I hate clowns and dolls (especially the more life-like ones) They just creep me out. SO DON'T BRING ME A CLOWN DOLL, I may faint lol.
SK: Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?
AG: I think there will always be critics labeling it "girl horror" which somehow makes it less legit horror? Not sure why this notion is out there, so many women write great horror novels, it would be sad to see them overlooked because of gender. I think for the most part women support women in this genre, and there are definitely some awesome men who support women in horror as well (like yourself), but if I say gender is irrelevant I'd be lying. I think if I wrote "mommy knows best books" people wouldn't bat an eye, but because I write horror, people give me this look like...seriously? Yep seriously, I'm a girl who likes scary stories. Deal!
SK: Who are your favorite female horror icons?
AG: When it comes to literature I have always loved Anne Rice. She brings vampires to life in a whole other way, she shows us their humanity alongside their inhumanity. I love that. The monster isn't always fully a monster, they're complicated. That's something that echo's in my ZOMBIE GIRL Saga and throughout all my writing. Other shout outs include Charlaine Harris and Shirley Jackson. Now if we're talking anything other than horror novels, I can't go without mentioning the Queen of Scream, Elvira. I watched her growing up and she honestly did make everyday Halloween, if ever there was a cooler horror queen, I haven't met her yet. Maybe someday The Poetic Zombie and Elvira can hang out? (extremely wishful thinking)
SK: What are you working on currently? Why should folks check it out?
AG: I have two novels out in THE ZOMBIE GIRL Saga, the final two have yet to be scheduled but they're a must read. I know people see the word "zombie" and roll their eyes. Yes the market is flooded with zombie tales, but this one isn't quite like all the rest. It adds elements of the supernatural and gives zombies a new history and back story. It's not a virus this time or any sort of mutation, it's so much more and it's creepytastic!
Now that I have two kiddos it's no wonder that I'm working on some children's books as well. I assure you they won't be your run of the mill kiddie books, but hey horror can teach as well! Just look at Grimm's Fairy Tales ;)
About EVE BRENNER: ZOMBIE GIRL 
Eve used to be an ordinary girl, from an ordinary town, with ordinary dreams, but her dreams rapidly turn into nightmares when one grave mistake leaves her a little less than human and a lot less average.
Eve’s not quite the same girl she used to be. She desperately clings to her humanity as new desires, new abilities, and new urges take over with each passing day.
Eve Brenner: Zombie Girl is a tale that takes you on an emotional and terrifying journey as Eve struggles to cope with her new life and find a cure for her strange illness before time runs out. She desperately clings to her humanity as she tries to control the monster she knows is lurking inside her.
Turns out living was the easy part.
Purchase it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and Kobo.
A. Giacomi (aka The Poetic Zombie) is one of the bright lights in the degrading darkness that is my social media feed. She's a mother to a brand new person (and another, slightly less brand new person) and also wrangles little tiny Kindergarten-aged people for a living. And somehow she still has time to write poetry and zombie novels.
About A. Giacomi:
Who is PZ?
A. Giacomi is an author, artist, and educator from Toronto, Canada. She is the mother of two tiny humans who inspire her to create weird and wonderful works that are both giggle-worthy, bizarre, and unique. When she’s not hanging out with her family she can be found slapping paint around or typing at light speed on her laptop (that is, when the rest of the house is napping or sleeping.)
Although she mainly writes in the horror/supernatural genre, she also dabbles in poetry, thus gaining the nickname: The Poetic Zombie. She’s a big fan of “cute” but “creepy” which started when she was a wee one and read lots and lots of R.L Stine way past her bedtime. That and she loves zombies! She never misses a TWD or iZombie episode, and the comics? Don’t even get her started on her love of comics! To her, they’re art!
You can find out more about her on Twitter, Facebook, and Amazon.
Interview:
SK: What are your horror bona fides?
AG: I'm a verified horror fan since the young age of five. Yep five year old me loved scary everything! I was the kid who went all out for Halloween and I never wanted to be the pretty pretty princess (unless of course I could be a zombie princess). I secretly wish everyday was Halloween!
The first horror film I ever saw was "Evil Dead", sure it was a bit campy but I'm still quite a fan of campy horror classics. I love the cheesy make-up and special effects. Give me a classic monster movie any day and I'm a happy Crystal Lake Camper.
Along with loving horror films, horror is pretty much all I read. If I can't be frightened by what I read then I don't enjoy it as much. Sure I read other things, but I can't help loving the adrenaline rush of a creepy tale!
SK: Who or what terrifies you?
AG: Believe it or not what really scares me is real life. Watching the news these days is horrifying enough. Ghosts? No problem! Zombie apocalypse? I have a whole escape planned out, but real people? They're sort of unpredictable, unlike horror movies which are fairly predictable and formulaic. On a side note, I hate clowns and dolls (especially the more life-like ones) They just creep me out. SO DON'T BRING ME A CLOWN DOLL, I may faint lol.
SK: Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?
AG: I think there will always be critics labeling it "girl horror" which somehow makes it less legit horror? Not sure why this notion is out there, so many women write great horror novels, it would be sad to see them overlooked because of gender. I think for the most part women support women in this genre, and there are definitely some awesome men who support women in horror as well (like yourself), but if I say gender is irrelevant I'd be lying. I think if I wrote "mommy knows best books" people wouldn't bat an eye, but because I write horror, people give me this look like...seriously? Yep seriously, I'm a girl who likes scary stories. Deal!
SK: Who are your favorite female horror icons?
AG: When it comes to literature I have always loved Anne Rice. She brings vampires to life in a whole other way, she shows us their humanity alongside their inhumanity. I love that. The monster isn't always fully a monster, they're complicated. That's something that echo's in my ZOMBIE GIRL Saga and throughout all my writing. Other shout outs include Charlaine Harris and Shirley Jackson. Now if we're talking anything other than horror novels, I can't go without mentioning the Queen of Scream, Elvira. I watched her growing up and she honestly did make everyday Halloween, if ever there was a cooler horror queen, I haven't met her yet. Maybe someday The Poetic Zombie and Elvira can hang out? (extremely wishful thinking)
SK: What are you working on currently? Why should folks check it out?
AG: I have two novels out in THE ZOMBIE GIRL Saga, the final two have yet to be scheduled but they're a must read. I know people see the word "zombie" and roll their eyes. Yes the market is flooded with zombie tales, but this one isn't quite like all the rest. It adds elements of the supernatural and gives zombies a new history and back story. It's not a virus this time or any sort of mutation, it's so much more and it's creepytastic!
Now that I have two kiddos it's no wonder that I'm working on some children's books as well. I assure you they won't be your run of the mill kiddie books, but hey horror can teach as well! Just look at Grimm's Fairy Tales ;)
About EVE BRENNER: ZOMBIE GIRL
Eve used to be an ordinary girl, from an ordinary town, with ordinary dreams, but her dreams rapidly turn into nightmares when one grave mistake leaves her a little less than human and a lot less average.
Eve’s not quite the same girl she used to be. She desperately clings to her humanity as new desires, new abilities, and new urges take over with each passing day.
Eve Brenner: Zombie Girl is a tale that takes you on an emotional and terrifying journey as Eve struggles to cope with her new life and find a cure for her strange illness before time runs out. She desperately clings to her humanity as she tries to control the monster she knows is lurking inside her.
Turns out living was the easy part.
Purchase it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and Kobo.
February 1, 2016
Women in Horror Month #1: Ursula K. Raphael, Reviewer and Blogger
Welcome, fiends, to the kick-off of the Manuscripts Burn Women in Horror Month Interview Series! 2016 is already the 7th WiHM, so I guess I'm a bit of a slow adopter, but judging by the positive reaction I've already received, I think we'll be doing more WiHM events in the future.
The goal of WiHM is to "learn about and showcase the underrepresented work of women in the horror industries." Today's guest is a perfect person to kick us off. Ursula K. Raphael (aka Astradaemon) is a reviewer and blogger who has read more horror than most of the rest of us combined. In perfect keeping with the goal of WiHM in her interview she points us to over half a dozen other women in horror (some of whom might just be showing up here on the blog later this month, hint hint.)
Alright, enough preamble. Let's meet the blogger and then dive right in!
About Ursula K. Raphael:
I am a Top Reviewer and Vine Voice at Amazon. I used to write for Zombiephiles.com: reviews & interviews. I am working on my own blog, so I can review more genres (fiction & nonfiction) and discuss some of my other interests.
I wrote one short horror story, one short fantasy story & I'm working on an anthology, as well as several other projects, but I prefer to stay behind the scenes. My goal is to introduce readers to as many talented authors as possible. :)
You can find her on Amazon, her blog, Twitter, and Facebook.
Interview:
SK: What are your horror bona fides?
UKR: I wrote for Zombiephiles.com for a few years before I broke away to start my own blog last year. During the time I wrote for the zombie website I started working with a lot of horror authors doing interviews, doing beta reading and of course book reviews. I wrote a few introductions, as well as writing my own short story, "The Survivor."
SK: Who or what terrifies you?
UKR: Real monsters. The ones you see on the news. People. People scare me more than zombies or werewolves or vampires or anything else horror authors can think up. Especially the people who appear completely normal and then they do something completely heinous and you never see it coming.
SK: Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?
UKR: I think authors like Rhiannon Frater, Tonia Brown, Suzanne Robb, Rachel Aukes, just to name a few, have made gender irrelevant...they can be just as sick, twisted, creative and original as the guys. I also think that authors like Crystal Connor and Lori Titus are helping to break down the door for black female authors in the horror genre.
SK: Who are your favorite female horror icons?
UKR: When I think of icons, I think of film, but I think it has been harder for women to make a name for themselves as directors, special effects artists,etc., than female writers. Perhaps the books written by women will pave the way for women in the horror film community.
SK: What are you working on currently? Why should folks check it out?
UKR: I'm always looking for new authors in the horror genre and writing reviews to help get their names out. Even if I don't like a story I still feel that all authors should have a chance to show people what they're capable of writing. Just because I don't like something doesn't mean that other people won't like it either. The horror genre has become so much more than monsters and violence.
That said, I have a new blog Astradaemon's Lair so I can review books in all the different sub genres and not just the zombie genre.
I am also working on my own anthology of short stories but it's been a long time coming and I don't know when I will ever get it done. :)
The goal of WiHM is to "learn about and showcase the underrepresented work of women in the horror industries." Today's guest is a perfect person to kick us off. Ursula K. Raphael (aka Astradaemon) is a reviewer and blogger who has read more horror than most of the rest of us combined. In perfect keeping with the goal of WiHM in her interview she points us to over half a dozen other women in horror (some of whom might just be showing up here on the blog later this month, hint hint.)
Alright, enough preamble. Let's meet the blogger and then dive right in!
About Ursula K. Raphael:
I am a Top Reviewer and Vine Voice at Amazon. I used to write for Zombiephiles.com: reviews & interviews. I am working on my own blog, so I can review more genres (fiction & nonfiction) and discuss some of my other interests.
I wrote one short horror story, one short fantasy story & I'm working on an anthology, as well as several other projects, but I prefer to stay behind the scenes. My goal is to introduce readers to as many talented authors as possible. :)
You can find her on Amazon, her blog, Twitter, and Facebook.
Interview:
SK: What are your horror bona fides?
UKR: I wrote for Zombiephiles.com for a few years before I broke away to start my own blog last year. During the time I wrote for the zombie website I started working with a lot of horror authors doing interviews, doing beta reading and of course book reviews. I wrote a few introductions, as well as writing my own short story, "The Survivor."
SK: Who or what terrifies you?
UKR: Real monsters. The ones you see on the news. People. People scare me more than zombies or werewolves or vampires or anything else horror authors can think up. Especially the people who appear completely normal and then they do something completely heinous and you never see it coming.
SK: Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?
UKR: I think authors like Rhiannon Frater, Tonia Brown, Suzanne Robb, Rachel Aukes, just to name a few, have made gender irrelevant...they can be just as sick, twisted, creative and original as the guys. I also think that authors like Crystal Connor and Lori Titus are helping to break down the door for black female authors in the horror genre.
SK: Who are your favorite female horror icons?
UKR: When I think of icons, I think of film, but I think it has been harder for women to make a name for themselves as directors, special effects artists,etc., than female writers. Perhaps the books written by women will pave the way for women in the horror film community.
SK: What are you working on currently? Why should folks check it out?
UKR: I'm always looking for new authors in the horror genre and writing reviews to help get their names out. Even if I don't like a story I still feel that all authors should have a chance to show people what they're capable of writing. Just because I don't like something doesn't mean that other people won't like it either. The horror genre has become so much more than monsters and violence.
That said, I have a new blog Astradaemon's Lair so I can review books in all the different sub genres and not just the zombie genre.
I am also working on my own anthology of short stories but it's been a long time coming and I don't know when I will ever get it done. :)
January 29, 2016
Re-Animated #3: The Critic
"The Critic" is a queer duck by any standard. It's also one of my all-time favorite shows, and it's a weirdly important piece in the paint-by-numbers portrait of animation I'm gradually building with the Re-Animated series.
Once again I want you to picture yourself as that poor, beleaguered (yeah, right) television network in the early '90s. You watched "The Simpsons" turn from a fad to a weird juggernaut to a critical and popular darling. By 1994 "The Simpsons" was in its Golden Age, producing seemingly nothing but instant classic episodes that were crushing the ratings. All attempts to re-create or replicate that success had failed. So what to do? Throw in the towel? Admit failure?
Or...go back to the source?
Al Jean and Mike Reiss were long-time writing partners and showrunners on "The Simpsons" for seasons 3 and 4. (Long-time writing partners and former "Simpsons" showrunners will become a recurring theme during Re-Animated...watch this space.) They left the show that Matt Groening had created to develop their own baby for ABC: "The Critic."
Either by design or happenstance "The Critic" was weirdly diametrically opposed to "The Simpsons." The action moved from Springfield, the stand-in for anywhere in middle America, to New York City. And Jay Sherman, the show's star, was something of an anti-Homer, too. Although both shared a girth problem (I guess fat jokes are just fun to make no matter the show) Jay was a successful, unhappy, highly intelligent bachelor standing in stark contrast to Homer's blue collar, blissfully dumb family man.
"The Critic" itself is a relic of a very particular time in the history of mass media. I will spare you all an essay on "Gremlins II" (for now) but just as "Gremlins II" skewered such a weirdly specific point in the development of cable TV that it's hard to understand outside of its cultural context (well, unless you just like to watch little green monsters eat people, I guess) "The Critic" skewered a weirdly specific point in the development of movies.
Today, in 2016, I can know pretty much anything and everything about every movie coming out for the next few years, including entire plots (if I'm not averse to spoilers) and behind-the-scenes personality clashes (if that's the sort of thing I'm interested in.) If you rewind to the Hollywood of the '80s and before, no one was really anticipating movies beyond maybe huge tentpoles more than six months in advance. The inner workings of Hollywood were arcane, and studios got away with things like sham marriages to make Rock Hudson not seem gay.
The internet (and, I would also argue, a fair amount of self-satisfied hagiographies disguised as exposes coming from Hollywood types themselves) changed what the average person knew about how Hollywood works. By the late '90s people were clued in to the movie system as never before. By the late '00s you could watch any movie trailer you wanted on YouTube and learn anything about any damn film with a simple google search.
But the mid-90s! Now there was an interesting era. Jay Sherman represented the guy who, as an influential film critic, knew how Hollywood worked and was disgusted by it, yet couldn't seem to convince anyone else of the utter amorality of the whole damn thing. Jay was an intellectual, and though there had always been smart jokes on "The Simpsons" none of the characters were ever really all that smart. So "The Critic" was an opportunity to satirize both the froo-froo pretensions of the intelligentsia and the fact that they kind of had a point about how ignorant Joe Six-Pack was.
Jay was a Cassandra figure. He didn't hate movies, he loved movies. He loved good movies. He hated the fact that what sold - and what it was his job to review - were bad movies. Part of what makes "The Critic" such a relic is that so many of the movie satires that they ran have actually come to pass. At the time, Hollywood was just beginning to dip its toes into nonsensical sequels and mash-ups. Now it seems there's nothing but sequels and mash-ups. Jay's disdain for "Jurassic Park II" seems quaint in the face of our knowledge that "Jurassic Park IV" was the biggest movie of all time (before it was eclipsed by "Star Wars VII," for Christ's sake.)
Marketing for the show relied heavily on the movie parodies, but really those were such a small aspect of "The Critic." The world around Jay was a fascinating pastiche. Played by Jon Lovitz, Jay is in appearance and mannerisms clearly meant to be Jewish. His adoptive parents, though (Eleanor and Franklin...of course) are such upper crust old money that Eleanor at one point introduces a family friend whose blood is literally blue. And in contrast to his parents, Jay's boss Duke Phillips (an obvious Ted Turner analogue) is so grotesquely nouveau-riche that he can easily afford a band of animatronic drunken hillbilly bears to be installed in his office to remind him of home in Atlanta.
"The Critic" got to have its cake and eat it too in a lot of ways. It took potshots against intellectuals like Jay while simultaneously showing that his audience was just as dumb as he feared. The Jewish experience in New York was sent up as often as the WASPy one. Entrenched interests conflicted with interests trying to entrench themselves - and showing how pointlessly both of them aspired to power. In one particularly fascinating episode Duke runs for president (because he's Duke, goddamnit) and brings on Jay's dad (the former governor of New York, as it turns out) as his running mate. Neither seems to know what to do with power, but Franklin is so used to having it he doesn't care how daffy he comes off and Duke is so used to acquiring it he doesn't care how big of a jerk he comes off.
And in the middle of it all, observing, hating every side for its hypocrisy with equal vigor, is Jay. Not an everyman by any stretch, but a frustrated idealist.
So what's so important about "The Critic?" Well, to put it bluntly, it got a season 2. After disappointing ratings on ABC during Wednesdays in the summer (right after Jim Henson's "Dinosaurs") "The Critic" moved to Fox, a more fitting home for it anyway. And in just squeaking by and developing enough of an audience that people remembered it, "The Critic" finally proved that "The Simpsons" was not an unreproducible fluke of nature. Instead, it was the beginning of an era. The beginning of adult animation...
Once again I want you to picture yourself as that poor, beleaguered (yeah, right) television network in the early '90s. You watched "The Simpsons" turn from a fad to a weird juggernaut to a critical and popular darling. By 1994 "The Simpsons" was in its Golden Age, producing seemingly nothing but instant classic episodes that were crushing the ratings. All attempts to re-create or replicate that success had failed. So what to do? Throw in the towel? Admit failure?
Or...go back to the source?
Al Jean and Mike Reiss were long-time writing partners and showrunners on "The Simpsons" for seasons 3 and 4. (Long-time writing partners and former "Simpsons" showrunners will become a recurring theme during Re-Animated...watch this space.) They left the show that Matt Groening had created to develop their own baby for ABC: "The Critic."
Either by design or happenstance "The Critic" was weirdly diametrically opposed to "The Simpsons." The action moved from Springfield, the stand-in for anywhere in middle America, to New York City. And Jay Sherman, the show's star, was something of an anti-Homer, too. Although both shared a girth problem (I guess fat jokes are just fun to make no matter the show) Jay was a successful, unhappy, highly intelligent bachelor standing in stark contrast to Homer's blue collar, blissfully dumb family man.
"The Critic" itself is a relic of a very particular time in the history of mass media. I will spare you all an essay on "Gremlins II" (for now) but just as "Gremlins II" skewered such a weirdly specific point in the development of cable TV that it's hard to understand outside of its cultural context (well, unless you just like to watch little green monsters eat people, I guess) "The Critic" skewered a weirdly specific point in the development of movies.
Today, in 2016, I can know pretty much anything and everything about every movie coming out for the next few years, including entire plots (if I'm not averse to spoilers) and behind-the-scenes personality clashes (if that's the sort of thing I'm interested in.) If you rewind to the Hollywood of the '80s and before, no one was really anticipating movies beyond maybe huge tentpoles more than six months in advance. The inner workings of Hollywood were arcane, and studios got away with things like sham marriages to make Rock Hudson not seem gay.
The internet (and, I would also argue, a fair amount of self-satisfied hagiographies disguised as exposes coming from Hollywood types themselves) changed what the average person knew about how Hollywood works. By the late '90s people were clued in to the movie system as never before. By the late '00s you could watch any movie trailer you wanted on YouTube and learn anything about any damn film with a simple google search.
But the mid-90s! Now there was an interesting era. Jay Sherman represented the guy who, as an influential film critic, knew how Hollywood worked and was disgusted by it, yet couldn't seem to convince anyone else of the utter amorality of the whole damn thing. Jay was an intellectual, and though there had always been smart jokes on "The Simpsons" none of the characters were ever really all that smart. So "The Critic" was an opportunity to satirize both the froo-froo pretensions of the intelligentsia and the fact that they kind of had a point about how ignorant Joe Six-Pack was.
Jay was a Cassandra figure. He didn't hate movies, he loved movies. He loved good movies. He hated the fact that what sold - and what it was his job to review - were bad movies. Part of what makes "The Critic" such a relic is that so many of the movie satires that they ran have actually come to pass. At the time, Hollywood was just beginning to dip its toes into nonsensical sequels and mash-ups. Now it seems there's nothing but sequels and mash-ups. Jay's disdain for "Jurassic Park II" seems quaint in the face of our knowledge that "Jurassic Park IV" was the biggest movie of all time (before it was eclipsed by "Star Wars VII," for Christ's sake.)
Marketing for the show relied heavily on the movie parodies, but really those were such a small aspect of "The Critic." The world around Jay was a fascinating pastiche. Played by Jon Lovitz, Jay is in appearance and mannerisms clearly meant to be Jewish. His adoptive parents, though (Eleanor and Franklin...of course) are such upper crust old money that Eleanor at one point introduces a family friend whose blood is literally blue. And in contrast to his parents, Jay's boss Duke Phillips (an obvious Ted Turner analogue) is so grotesquely nouveau-riche that he can easily afford a band of animatronic drunken hillbilly bears to be installed in his office to remind him of home in Atlanta.
"The Critic" got to have its cake and eat it too in a lot of ways. It took potshots against intellectuals like Jay while simultaneously showing that his audience was just as dumb as he feared. The Jewish experience in New York was sent up as often as the WASPy one. Entrenched interests conflicted with interests trying to entrench themselves - and showing how pointlessly both of them aspired to power. In one particularly fascinating episode Duke runs for president (because he's Duke, goddamnit) and brings on Jay's dad (the former governor of New York, as it turns out) as his running mate. Neither seems to know what to do with power, but Franklin is so used to having it he doesn't care how daffy he comes off and Duke is so used to acquiring it he doesn't care how big of a jerk he comes off.
And in the middle of it all, observing, hating every side for its hypocrisy with equal vigor, is Jay. Not an everyman by any stretch, but a frustrated idealist.
So what's so important about "The Critic?" Well, to put it bluntly, it got a season 2. After disappointing ratings on ABC during Wednesdays in the summer (right after Jim Henson's "Dinosaurs") "The Critic" moved to Fox, a more fitting home for it anyway. And in just squeaking by and developing enough of an audience that people remembered it, "The Critic" finally proved that "The Simpsons" was not an unreproducible fluke of nature. Instead, it was the beginning of an era. The beginning of adult animation...
January 27, 2016
Check-In
Hey, kits and kaboodles.
I don't know if anyone's been sitting on pins and needles waiting for my next post but I just realized that as much as I want to take a more relaxed approach to blogging in 2016, I don't want to go for weeks at a time without updating. That is a slippery goddamned slope, and I never wanted to be that kind of blogger who disappears for long stretches and then gets confused that the audience scarpered like cockroaches when the kitchen light turns on. Not that any of you lovely folks are cockroaches.
So here's the deal:
- I've got a ton more Re-Animated entries planned out in my head.
- I'm thinking of making February a great big celebration of Women in Horror Month.
- There's still a lot of regular bloggery I want to get up to.
But right now I have a deadline February 1. HUNTER OF THE DEAD, my take on a vampire novel, is due to the lovely folks at Sinister Grin Press. The first draft is finished but could use a solid polish. Could I take a bolo and ask for an extension? Yes, I could. But I don't want that to be how we kick off our working relationship.
So that, in addition to Hellstorm Jonas, and a couple of things I don't want to talk about on the blog just yet, have got me not blogging. I'll be back on the ball soon, I promise. Just bare with me through this next week or so.
I don't know if anyone's been sitting on pins and needles waiting for my next post but I just realized that as much as I want to take a more relaxed approach to blogging in 2016, I don't want to go for weeks at a time without updating. That is a slippery goddamned slope, and I never wanted to be that kind of blogger who disappears for long stretches and then gets confused that the audience scarpered like cockroaches when the kitchen light turns on. Not that any of you lovely folks are cockroaches.
So here's the deal:
- I've got a ton more Re-Animated entries planned out in my head.
- I'm thinking of making February a great big celebration of Women in Horror Month.
- There's still a lot of regular bloggery I want to get up to.
But right now I have a deadline February 1. HUNTER OF THE DEAD, my take on a vampire novel, is due to the lovely folks at Sinister Grin Press. The first draft is finished but could use a solid polish. Could I take a bolo and ask for an extension? Yes, I could. But I don't want that to be how we kick off our working relationship.
So that, in addition to Hellstorm Jonas, and a couple of things I don't want to talk about on the blog just yet, have got me not blogging. I'll be back on the ball soon, I promise. Just bare with me through this next week or so.
January 20, 2016
Re-Animated #2: The Also-Rans
Here's where I'm going to start to make good on my promise in last week's entry of Re-Animated. "The Simpsons" may not be the first animated television series, nor is it necessarily the greatest, but it is a watershed; a place to start the conversation.
If you follow TV at all you probably understand that there's a lot of following trends. "Game of Thrones" debuted to massive international success, and now every channel is trying to find their own "Game of Thrones": whether it be "The Bastard Executioner," "The Expanse," "The Last Kingdom" or whatever.
So imagine it's late 1989/early 1990 and you're a television executive. "The Simpsons" has literally created a genre out of thin air - the primetime adult-oriented (but child-friendly!) cartoon series. Not only has it done that, but it's blown the doors off of everything else that went before. Fox has gone from a joke of a channel to a major force in the media. Everyone seems to be wearing "Simpsons" t-shirts and spouting "Simpsons" catchphrases.
Oh, and let's talk about that for a minute. I don't know how to accurately portray this to someone who's fifteen or so today, but when Bart Simpson was saying "don't have a cow, man" or "eat my shorts" - bowdlerized versions of tame insults at best - it seemed like the adult authorities of the world were having a massive conniption fit. Schools were banning all "Simpsons" shirts, not just the "offensive" ones - which of course only made them more intriguing and popular.
Nothing boosts ratings like a good, old-fashioned moral panic. What the pearl-clutching throwbacks of the '80s did to "Dungeons and Dragons" they managed to re-create in the '90s with "The Simpsons." I know, it's hard to imagine a time when something as castrated and asinine as the modern "Simpsons" was seen as the downfall of Western civilization, but it was.
And what that meant for you, if you happened to be an exec at another network at the time, was a mad scramble to find "the next Simpsons." Then networks did end up having a few notable successes, mostly years later, but we'll talk about those in the next few entries. Today I want to talk about the dank, dismal failures, the ones barely worth bundling together for this blog entry, let alone giving them their own.
I have no meaningful recollection of "Fish Police" beyond the context of this article - it was one of the also-rans of the very early attempts to cash in on the popularity of "The Simpsons." CBS took a pitch from Hannah-Barbera - makers of Saturday morning tripe like "Wacky Races," "Huckleberry Hound," and "Scooby-Doo," most of which, to be quite frank, I probably won't be tackling in this blog series. "Fish Police" was based on a self-published comic which was later picked up by Dark Horse and appears, by all rights, to be massively superior to the show that came out.
The problem with "Fish Police" (as we'll see with the other two entries in varying degrees) is that it was neither fish (ha!) nor fowl. Kids weren't sucked in by the adult world of the mafia and adults found the cartoonishness too off-putting. What "The Simpsons" had nailed was appealing to both demographics without pandering to (or insulting) either. Homer's oafish antics were amusing to a child, but his concerns about paying for and presenting his family were relatable to adults. Similarly, Bart's behavioral problems were appealing to kids who wanted to see themselves as rebels and parents who were trying to raise their kids to be good citizens - but probably remembered their own years as hellions.
Which leads us to our next entry, "Family Dog."
"Family Dog" was another attempt by CBS to crack "The Simpsons" code and this time, to their credit, they struck somewhat closer to the mark. "Family Dog" had originated as an animated episode of the anthology series "Amazing Stories" in 1987, and a particularly well-received one at that. In fact, Brad Bird, who would go on to be responsible for "Ratatouille" and "The Incredibles" developed the original "Family Dog" episode. In the sense that its pedigree (ha!) was as a well-remembered and well-liked short from the '80s adapted to full-length, "Family Dog" was already much closer to the "Simpsons" mark than "Fish Police." And coming with Steven Spielberg's imprimatur - which would or recently had rocketed Saturday morning cartoons like "Animaniacs," "Tiny Toons," and "Taz-Mania" to the dizzying heights of popularity - this was no doubt meant to be CBS's attempt at a prestige cartoon. A "Simpsons" clone that might benefit from not being considered crass, if you will.
I have memories of watching "Family Dog" and most of them consist of one thing: being incredibly bored. The birds-eye perspective of a dumb (literally) mutt may have been a good idea for a single, half-hour short, but at series length it quickly became exhausting. Perhaps if Spielberg and Co. had retained Brad Bird, it might have scintillated, but as it turned out, "Family Dog" was plagued with production issues and then just turned out to never be particularly good.
Let's close out with one final also-ran that I have a much more intimate knowledge of than half-baked, twenty-five year old memories like the other two: "Capitol Critters."
I watched "Capitol Critters" - or at least as much of it as aired - in its original run. In 1992 ABC put this up alongside its super-successful Tuesday night lineup, featuring such luminary entertainment as "Home Improvement." Unfortunately, "Capitol Critters" was another Hannah-Barbera production, which meant it was always doomed to be facile at best.
I recently got a wild hair up my ass to rewatch this show. As it's not available on DVD or streaming services, I shall not describe the lengths I went to in order to fulfill this passing fancy. But I can tell you that with a groan I realized what went wrong with a show that had seemed so attractive to my ten-year-old self when it came out.
First of all, "Capitol Critters" is off-puttingly racist. It's fairly common for cartoons to use species as a shorthand for race or nationality, but in this particular show mice represented average, Middle Americans, rats represented fast-talking city types, and cockroaches represented blacks. Doubtless the argument was made at some point, "Well, they're all different kinds of vermin anyway" but the whole "black people are shit-eating bugs who live segregated from the rest of society" was a bit of a hard pill for my adult self to swallow.
But in the interests of being fair, this was just kind of a symptom of the greater issues with the show. I have no proof of this, but I feel like it was developed as a kid's show and someone said, "Oh, it takes place in Washington, D.C.? Let's try to make it an adult issues show so we can compete with 'The Simpsons.'" Stripped of its (for the time) political themes, kids might have enjoyed it on Saturday mornings. Stuffed as it was with ham-fisted fumbling attempts to "solve" early '90s political errata, the creators probably saw it as having appeal to adult "Murphy Brown" watchers. And while it's aged about as well, it was never nearly as clever. It didn't help that every great political issue it addressed - including some we still deal with today - was readily solved by episode's end in the long tradition of episodic cartoons.
So, there you have it. Three flawed but ambitious attempts to cash in on "The Simpsons" phenomenon that have been relegated to being brought up once in a while on obscure blogs. So, what shows managed to finally break that early curse and break out? Tune in to the next entry of Re-Animated to find out.
If you follow TV at all you probably understand that there's a lot of following trends. "Game of Thrones" debuted to massive international success, and now every channel is trying to find their own "Game of Thrones": whether it be "The Bastard Executioner," "The Expanse," "The Last Kingdom" or whatever.
So imagine it's late 1989/early 1990 and you're a television executive. "The Simpsons" has literally created a genre out of thin air - the primetime adult-oriented (but child-friendly!) cartoon series. Not only has it done that, but it's blown the doors off of everything else that went before. Fox has gone from a joke of a channel to a major force in the media. Everyone seems to be wearing "Simpsons" t-shirts and spouting "Simpsons" catchphrases.
Oh, and let's talk about that for a minute. I don't know how to accurately portray this to someone who's fifteen or so today, but when Bart Simpson was saying "don't have a cow, man" or "eat my shorts" - bowdlerized versions of tame insults at best - it seemed like the adult authorities of the world were having a massive conniption fit. Schools were banning all "Simpsons" shirts, not just the "offensive" ones - which of course only made them more intriguing and popular.
Nothing boosts ratings like a good, old-fashioned moral panic. What the pearl-clutching throwbacks of the '80s did to "Dungeons and Dragons" they managed to re-create in the '90s with "The Simpsons." I know, it's hard to imagine a time when something as castrated and asinine as the modern "Simpsons" was seen as the downfall of Western civilization, but it was.
And what that meant for you, if you happened to be an exec at another network at the time, was a mad scramble to find "the next Simpsons." Then networks did end up having a few notable successes, mostly years later, but we'll talk about those in the next few entries. Today I want to talk about the dank, dismal failures, the ones barely worth bundling together for this blog entry, let alone giving them their own.
I have no meaningful recollection of "Fish Police" beyond the context of this article - it was one of the also-rans of the very early attempts to cash in on the popularity of "The Simpsons." CBS took a pitch from Hannah-Barbera - makers of Saturday morning tripe like "Wacky Races," "Huckleberry Hound," and "Scooby-Doo," most of which, to be quite frank, I probably won't be tackling in this blog series. "Fish Police" was based on a self-published comic which was later picked up by Dark Horse and appears, by all rights, to be massively superior to the show that came out.
The problem with "Fish Police" (as we'll see with the other two entries in varying degrees) is that it was neither fish (ha!) nor fowl. Kids weren't sucked in by the adult world of the mafia and adults found the cartoonishness too off-putting. What "The Simpsons" had nailed was appealing to both demographics without pandering to (or insulting) either. Homer's oafish antics were amusing to a child, but his concerns about paying for and presenting his family were relatable to adults. Similarly, Bart's behavioral problems were appealing to kids who wanted to see themselves as rebels and parents who were trying to raise their kids to be good citizens - but probably remembered their own years as hellions.
Which leads us to our next entry, "Family Dog."
"Family Dog" was another attempt by CBS to crack "The Simpsons" code and this time, to their credit, they struck somewhat closer to the mark. "Family Dog" had originated as an animated episode of the anthology series "Amazing Stories" in 1987, and a particularly well-received one at that. In fact, Brad Bird, who would go on to be responsible for "Ratatouille" and "The Incredibles" developed the original "Family Dog" episode. In the sense that its pedigree (ha!) was as a well-remembered and well-liked short from the '80s adapted to full-length, "Family Dog" was already much closer to the "Simpsons" mark than "Fish Police." And coming with Steven Spielberg's imprimatur - which would or recently had rocketed Saturday morning cartoons like "Animaniacs," "Tiny Toons," and "Taz-Mania" to the dizzying heights of popularity - this was no doubt meant to be CBS's attempt at a prestige cartoon. A "Simpsons" clone that might benefit from not being considered crass, if you will.
I have memories of watching "Family Dog" and most of them consist of one thing: being incredibly bored. The birds-eye perspective of a dumb (literally) mutt may have been a good idea for a single, half-hour short, but at series length it quickly became exhausting. Perhaps if Spielberg and Co. had retained Brad Bird, it might have scintillated, but as it turned out, "Family Dog" was plagued with production issues and then just turned out to never be particularly good.
Let's close out with one final also-ran that I have a much more intimate knowledge of than half-baked, twenty-five year old memories like the other two: "Capitol Critters."
I watched "Capitol Critters" - or at least as much of it as aired - in its original run. In 1992 ABC put this up alongside its super-successful Tuesday night lineup, featuring such luminary entertainment as "Home Improvement." Unfortunately, "Capitol Critters" was another Hannah-Barbera production, which meant it was always doomed to be facile at best.
I recently got a wild hair up my ass to rewatch this show. As it's not available on DVD or streaming services, I shall not describe the lengths I went to in order to fulfill this passing fancy. But I can tell you that with a groan I realized what went wrong with a show that had seemed so attractive to my ten-year-old self when it came out.
First of all, "Capitol Critters" is off-puttingly racist. It's fairly common for cartoons to use species as a shorthand for race or nationality, but in this particular show mice represented average, Middle Americans, rats represented fast-talking city types, and cockroaches represented blacks. Doubtless the argument was made at some point, "Well, they're all different kinds of vermin anyway" but the whole "black people are shit-eating bugs who live segregated from the rest of society" was a bit of a hard pill for my adult self to swallow.
But in the interests of being fair, this was just kind of a symptom of the greater issues with the show. I have no proof of this, but I feel like it was developed as a kid's show and someone said, "Oh, it takes place in Washington, D.C.? Let's try to make it an adult issues show so we can compete with 'The Simpsons.'" Stripped of its (for the time) political themes, kids might have enjoyed it on Saturday mornings. Stuffed as it was with ham-fisted fumbling attempts to "solve" early '90s political errata, the creators probably saw it as having appeal to adult "Murphy Brown" watchers. And while it's aged about as well, it was never nearly as clever. It didn't help that every great political issue it addressed - including some we still deal with today - was readily solved by episode's end in the long tradition of episodic cartoons.
So, there you have it. Three flawed but ambitious attempts to cash in on "The Simpsons" phenomenon that have been relegated to being brought up once in a while on obscure blogs. So, what shows managed to finally break that early curse and break out? Tune in to the next entry of Re-Animated to find out.
