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This blog series continues exploring haunted attractions and how even spook houses must have story elements. The first two entries examined perspective and setting. The third in the series looks at “the hook.” In 2022, I was fortunate enough to visit several haunted attractions in Universal Studios – Orlando’s theme […]
This blog series continues exploring haunted attractions and how even spook houses should have story elements. The last entry examined perspective, now we move onto setting. In 2022, I was fortunate enough to visit several haunted attractions in Universal Studios – Orlando’s theme park. I will briefly describe and review […]
In early autumn, neighborhood spook houses spring up everywhere. Anyone looking for a thrill has several local options to wander through a darkened, enclosed maze while costumed people jump out at them. While the quality of these attractions vary, they are rarely associated with the basics of writing. However, haunted […]
We all know species in the animal kingdom are warm-blooded and cold-blooded. While it’s unfair to categorize warm-blooded mammals as nurturing and caring, and cold-blooded lizards as hard-hearted and vicious, we often fall into thinking this way. As it happens, I often view my own stories in the same way. […]
Ye Olde Dragon Books’ second anthology of classic monsters targets Frankenstein and asks the question “Who’s the Monster?” Is it the ambitious scientist who goes too far? Is it his creation who, after being rejected, runs amok? Is it both? Or is it a society that can’t see beneath the […]
Frankenstein. As you read that word, what do you think of? Likely images of a tall monster or possibly of a crazed doctor. Yet the word was intended to be a last name of a character in a story. The original novel had a subtitle of “The Modern Prometheus” in […]
I wrote a story “Dark Angels.” Sometimes I write long, interconnected novels with many short stories that have references to each other. This story isn’t like that. Sometimes I write short, poignant stories about people in crisis with problems that mirror society’s ills. This story isn’t like that, either. Dark […]
C. Rae D’Arc’s Dreaming Beauty has all the elements of a fairy tale retelling as well as several surprises. The first in a series, Dreaming Beauty combines the fantasy and romance of a fairy tale with the snark and modern sensibility of a contemporary. This combination worked with great success […]
On a recommendation from a family member, I read the mystery novel The Door by Mary Roberts Rinehart. Many people have forgotten this woman, but in her time, her novels rivaled Christie’s in popularity. At one point, she was called the American Agatha Christie. The Door was published in 1930 […]
If you are reading this on July 7, 2022, go to gohavok.com and enjoy a free story by yours truly. I’d appreciate your patronage. Also, this article has spoilers! Including awesome art at the end revealing the monster in the story! https://gohavok.com “Down Twisted Cypress Way” is my fourth publication […]