Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion
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What else are you reading? (June 2010 - May 2013) *closed*
If you want to watch something truly scary, try Japanese and Korean ghost movies. My friend (a girl) watched The Ring with several of his male buddies when they're in college. Afterward, all of them slept in my friend's room with the lights on, they were too afraid to sleep alone. I hate scary movies, so I always avoid them like plague.
Cleon wrote: "If you want to watch something truly scary, try Japanese and Korean ghost movies...."I sooo agree; nothing can beat them. The Ring japanese one was wayy more scarier than the hollywood one. Hollywood's Paranormal Activity is quite scary too; couldn't sleep without the light on for a whole week
What was the film where the punchline was, 'the call is coming from inside the house. The CALL is coming from INSIDE the house?' Freaked me out at the time.
mc wrote: "What was the film where the punchline was, 'the call is coming from inside the house. The CALL is coming from INSIDE the house?' Freaked me out at the time."Was it "One Missed Call" ??
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Now you've all got me thinking about the story of the old woman who dies and (I think) her husband leaves her in bed, and sleeps next to her skeleton for years before anyone realizes what's happened. I had to read that in highschool.
And when I think back on it now, especially after taking some police procedure classes, I'm wondering how he handled her decaying body, the smells and the bugs and all? That's soooo not realistic. But back then, there was no internet for the author to do research, so... we were left with a freakin' creepy story. Wish I could remember the author... A Rose For Emily... I think that might have been the title. Will have to look it up later.
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One of my other friends spent the night. Thankfully, my roommate was out that night. I wasn't really scared. I didn't scream or anything. I just bawled my eyes out. It's so odd. Never happened before, except at movies that had a very emotional or sad ending. Dogs dying will get me every time. lol. Apparently The Ring too.
Jordan wrote: "Oh that's a movie Becky? I've got the book by Ray Bradbury, but haven't read it yet. Now you've all got me thinking about the story of the old woman who dies and (I think) her husband leaves he..."
I do know a real life case where someone slept in the next room for months, until the cops were called because no one had heard from the wife. No real odor outside the apartment, apparently. Although it was winter and he opened a bedroom window... So you can go back to being creeped out by that story.
Am reading Dawn in the Orchard and enjoying it very much. Not action/adventure/mystery, just a coming out story, but set in Appalachia, with a marvelous sense of people and place. Just lovely, and high quality writing. Am about 2/3 through, and so far, rec it highly.
Scary movies don't usually bother me. I think I've become desensitized by all the zombie guts and whatnot, LOL, but The Ring still freaks. me. OUT. I remember demanding a chaperoned escort to the kitchen during the first Final Destination too. ;-pNow that the snow's decided to let me have power/phone/net again, think I'll try to endure Paranormal Activity again. EVERYBODY keeps raving about it and when I told my brother that I stopped watching because I thought it was boring, he gave me that Are you CRAZY? look. *sigh*
ETA: Chucked it all to watch 1408 on TNT. WOO HOO!
Ill Met is scheduled for late December. If I can drag my weary-ass brain through it one more time. Shadow on the Sun will be more like 2013. I think I'm dragging my feet on that one because it's very complex -- Japanese internment camps, etc. I know I don't have the mental energy to do it justice right now.Thanks for the info, Mr. Lanyon. SOTS sounds really interesting. Why don’t you just let the two stories germinate in your head for next year and write them at the crack of dawn somewhere 2013. That way you’re all rejuvenated and raring to go. Thanks for all of the great stories this year.
As much as the horror movies scare me...I've yet to read a book which scares me ... I mean reallyyy scares me ... the last book I read which scared me a bit was The Omen. The movies quite couldn't live upto the book. But oh well...that happens in most cases
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That sounds ideal to me.
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I'm trying to think of the last book that scared me. I know there have been some. I don't read horror though -- haven't for years -- so I'm blanking. There must be some really scary books out there!
Kyle wrote: "That is so true! ..."Glad u agree :D
The only book that really really scared me was King's Pet Sematary. I live in Italy so I shouldn't be worried about things coming back from Indian burial grounds, but I think I rarely shouted "no no no no" to the characters of one book so much :-)
Josh wrote: "I'm trying to think of the last book that scared me. I know there have been some. I don't read horror though -- haven't for years -- so I'm blanking. There must be some really scary books out there! ..."There isn't much if we're talking about modern books...but when u do remember some good scary books..please let me know
Emanuela ~plastic duck~ wrote: "The only book that really really scared me was King's Pet Sematary. I live in Italy so I shouldn't be worried about things coming back from Indian burial grounds, but I think I rarely ..."Did it make u look behind ur shoulder while reading it ?? :O
Bella wrote: "Did it make u look behind ur shoulder while reading it ?? :O"Not really, more hide under the covers when the tension became unbearable, even if I did look at my cat a little differently for a while and I adored the little guy. And I avoided driving next to the cemetery when it was dark for a while. It was absolutely irrational.
Movies scare me much more. I had nightmares about Freddie Kruger for years. I once saw a movie where a mirror retained the images of a murder committed in it: I still have problems looking at mirrors when the light is dim...
Emanuela ~plastic duck~ wrote: "Bella wrote: "Did it make u look behind ur shoulder while reading it ?? :O"Not really, more hide under the covers when the tension became unbearable, even if I did look at my cat a little differe..."
About the mirror topic..I watched the movie "Mirrors" and same happened to me. I used to pray before I looked into the mirrors for sometime..it scared me that much
Kyle wrote: "Bella wrote: "Emanuela ~plastic duck~ wrote: "Bella wrote: "Did it make u look behind ur shoulder while reading it ?? :O"Not really, more hide under the covers when the tension became unbearable,..."
I just googled but only one result shows mirror mirror which is a star trek counterpart and there's a bloody mary which is a folklore but no dead mary???
Kyle wrote: "Bella wrote: "Kyle wrote: "Bella wrote: "Emanuela ~plastic duck~ wrote: "Bella wrote: "Did it make u look behind ur shoulder while reading it ?? :O"Not really, more hide under the covers when the..."
Scary O_O'
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:-D
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Mirrors ARE scary. There's something about them that is just uncanny. In certain light at certain angles -- upside down. I used to hang over the edge of the couch when I was a kid and stare into this mirror that stretched down the length of a wall and it was so fascinating to see the room from that perspective. It looked like a completely different place and the mirror was a doorway into it.
Yepp ... getting sucked into the mirror or ur shadow coming out from mirror where left and right side switch each other is one of the popular horror movie theme
As a kid, one of the scariest movies I saw was the original "The Fly." The part at the end, when the human-headed fly stuck in the web is screaming, "Help me!! Help me!!" in that squeaky voice as the enormous, sharp-pincered spider is coming at him?Gah, I'm shuddering just thinking about it.
mc wrote: "As a kid, one of the scariest movies I saw was the original "The Fly." The part at the end, when the human-headed fly stuck in the web is screaming, "Help me!! Help me!!" in that squeaky voice as ..."I watched it when I was a kid too; super creepy
Kyle, if that's what I think it is, I for sure am not clicking on it :)
Salems Lot. I read it when I was 15, was my first Stephen King book. I remember running downstairs to wedge the book underneath the couch (so I could be sure it would have the utmost difficulty working its way free?) and then SPRINTING back upstairs to my room to cower through what remained of the night with the lights on. Because even the cover scared me so bad, I wouldn't sleep in the same room with it.LOLOL
FWIW, this is the Cover of EEK:
That droplet of blood freaked. Me. OUT.
It was GREAT!!!
I haven't been so scared of a book since. I know I've been horrified, plenty of times, by fundamentalism in theology references (and in atheism books too)...I'm much more terrified by real people, tbh. The most dangerous thing on earth -- the closed mind. [/shudder]
The only books that truly frighten me are non-fiction. I still list Reading Lolita in Tehran as the scariest book I've ever read.I just finished Until the End of Time: The Chariot by Syd McGinley and I loved it. I thought it was shorter than it was, but I couldn't stop reading it this morning so now I'm running late for everything and still thinking about this story and its characters and writing more about them in my head. Often short stories in this genre feel like things are left out and a full story hasn't been completely developed, but McGinley manages to fit several short stories into this book and give you a satisfying ending while still leaving you wanting more.
Ah, thanks for the info, Kyle. I'll dare it.Kari, my sister, I totally agree. Maybe it was the age I was at the time, but a lot of those early Stephen Kings were very scary (and mesmerizing). He has a way of hitting you at the core of those childhood fears, and getting to the heart of what truly terrifies us, the things we may not even be able to articulate.
Kyle wrote: "Bella wrote: "mc wrote: "As a kid, one of the scariest movies I saw was the original "The Fly." The part at the end, when the human-headed fly stuck in the web is screaming, "Help me!! Help me!!" ..."Thanks but am not going anywhere near it; I wiped this memory from my brain with a hard work :[
I can't watch scary movies, they scare me too much. I used to love listening to Lovecraft's stories on a midnight radio show (do you call it a show when it is on the radio by the way?),deliciously creepy. The scariest story I ever read, is The Fly. Even thinking about it creeps me out and I won't even mention how many years it is since I read it. It scarred me forever. Ray Bradbury's "Something wicked this way comes" is mentioned here, that is an amazing book. The title is wonderful too, from Macbeth I believe. "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes"..
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Anyone remember that? I recall that was sort of fun once you got past the initial obligatory picking off of cast members one by one.
Just added Hellbent to my DVD queue at netflix!Spellbinder. Since I was already there, I checked -- netflix has instant streaming of that one. Haven't seen it since I watched it back in the day, but man, did that movie scare the crap out of me. You can bet I'll be watching it tonight. Am sorely tempted to ground the kids for something...anything...so I can make them, I don't know, go write an essay on Respect for the next hour and a half so I can watch it again now. LOL
I like and can handle monster films, but the ones with the human serial killers - those freak me out for weeks afterward. More darkness in the human mind than in any monster from the black lagoon. I liked The Fly.
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Lou wrote: "Apropos serial killers, Devil in the White City is a fascinating book about the 1893 Chicago World Fair and H.H. Holmes, Americas first documented serial killer. That guy with his murder castle was..."Netflix has the documentary "H.H. Holmes: America's First Serial Killer" available for streaming. A few times they went for a bit of cheesy atmosphere, but the subject matter is so horrifying that it doesn't need special effects to be creepy as hell.
It kind of makes you wonder what the guy would have been capable of, with all those brains and creativity, if only he weren't off his nut.
Josh wrote: "I'm trying to think of the last book that scared me"For me it was The Exorcist. I was reading it while alone, and part way through I had to get up and turn on lights in every room. I have never watched the film version so I don't know how they compare.
As for non-reading material I remember an episode of 'Night Gallery', with Roddy McDowall. There was a picture on the wall that changed each time he looked at it. You have to know it's frightening if Roddy McDowall gets scared.
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I know! I remember the first time I read about that lunatic. Terrifying!
Becky wrote: "Does anyone remember the movie Something Wicked This Way Comes? That one scared the crap out of me as a kid. I don't even remember for sure if I managed to get all the way through it."Yes! You should watch it again. I saw it first as an adult so was not scared by it, but I like it. I thought the 2 boys were not good and it was an irritation. But Jason Robards and (Who was the October people's leader? I love that actor) were terrific and there are moments that have stayed w/me. The scene in the library? That whole scene, terrific. I also loved the score. Ray Bradbury wrote very poetically, especially about small towns and families.
Bella wrote: "As much as the horror movies scare me...I've yet to read a book which scares me ... I mean reallyyy scares me ... the last book I read which scared me a bit was The Omen. The movies quite couldn't ..."When I was ABout 17yrs old, I plucked a book off my folks' bookshelves by an author I'd never heard of. The cover was just an embossed image of a youngish girl, all black. The story started slow and easy; introducing us to a man going back to the town he'd more or less grown up in. We get to know a bunch of locals, ordinary folks. It's told so broad-daylight true that I knew nothing supernatural could possibly occur--right up until a little boy floats outside a 2nd-story window and begs to be let it. I was taken completely by surprise. I remember turning back--I don't know why--to the cover, and only then, for the first time, did I see there was a tiny bit of color in all that black. One drop of blood, right at the corner of the little girl's mouth. Goosebumps flew up my arms.
The book was Salem's Lot by Stephen King. I didn't believe in vampires; but I slept w/a Bible and a cross near my bed every night for about a week.
Josh wrote: "Oh! What about the movie Hellbent? Anyone remember that? I recall that was sort of fun once you got past the initial obligatory picking off of cast members one by one."
Yeah, I bought that one. It's really pretty good. By far the best gay scary flick I've seen.
I just remembered: Josh, you wrote a genuinely scary story. The one with the cottage in the woods. I remember thinking, How does he do that? Because it's not easy to write scary, and especially w/no dependence on gore or bodies. It was just good and scary.
Susan wrote: "Josh wrote: "I'm trying to think of the last book that scared me"For me it was The Exorcist. I was reading it while alone, and part way through I had to get up and turn on lights ..."
It's funny; I read the Exorcist before seeing it, long before. I couldn't put it down. I'm sure it must have affected me. But it was the movie that scared me so much that, for many years, I couldn't bring myself to watch it. I'd see just a bit and then I'd make myself scarce. When I finally did watch it, I was scared, but I also loved the film. I'm not sure why. I did really dig both Lee J Cobb and Max Von Sydow in it, the way they both so beautifully embodied their parts.
Candice wrote: "The book was Salem's Lot by Stephen King. I didn't believe in vampires; but I slept w/a Bible and a cross near my bed every night for about a week...."Thank you so much Candice. My vacation is starting and it's perfect time to read a horror story and Stephen King is god of horror stories
Candice wrote: "Susan wrote: "Josh wrote: "I'm trying to think of the last book that scared me"For me it was The Exorcist. I was reading it while alone, and part way through I had to get up and t..."
There's a book of The Exorcist too?? :O I never knew
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Anyone remember that? I recall that was sort of fun once you got past the initial obligatory picking off of cast members one by one."
Yeah, I..."
In a Dark Wood. Thanks, Candice. Yes, that's probably my scariest effort. I'm pretty much a lightweight on the the scarify meter. I scared myself with parts of that one. :-D
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I've got a good rec for y'all. Has anyone read Cut to the Bone by Robert Conner? Just finished it, and enjoyed it very much. It was like James Elroy's LA Confidential but the Reader's Digest Condensed Version only w/a gay lead and they didn't take out the expletives. I took awhile to pick it up, and I'm thinking others may have overlooked it for the same reasons. The synopsis makes it sound a little too hard core, like maybe there will be no redeeming characters. The first few pages made me doubt. However, the love story works, makes you care. The story telling is good, too. Past a certain point, I couldn't put it down.
I'm not saying I think all of you will like this book, but I think a number of you would.
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Q&A with Josh Lanyon
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I don't think I've seen that. I wonder if it can be streamed from Netflix...