Austrian Horror Films
March 2nd, 2011 by Shane Rivers | | No Comments »Austrian Horror Films
Trying to find an Austrian horror film is like looking for a musical starring Steven Seagal: you’re in for a long, frustrating search. Of course, we’re talking about a country that produced an average of 20 motion pictures per year from 2000 to 2005, so it’s unlikely that many of them are going to be devoted to teenagers getting hacked apart. But fear not, dear reader, for I’ve combed through the depths of the Internet to put together a list of the few available horror flicks from the…
Australian Horror Films
March 1st, 2011 by Shane Rivers | | No Comments »Australian Horror Films and Australian Horror Movies
When you think of Australia, it’s unlikely that horror films are the first things that come to mind. Heck, you might think of Midnight Oil or Jacko (“It’ll surprise ya…the new Energizer!”) before you start pondering Australian horror films. In order to jog your memory, I’ve compiled a list of Australian horror movies, many of which utilize the country’s wide open landscape to chilling effect.
And before you complain about the exclusion of Peter Jackson movies, keep in mind that he’s from New Zealand,…
Dracula Cinema
March 1st, 2011 by Randy Ray | | 2 Comments »One of the most popular posts on our infrequently updated horror books and movies blog is the post about Dracula movies. And since we just read the novel Dracula for our book club, Dracula is on my mind--both the literary character and the cinematic character. So here's a post about Dracula cinema.
My favorite cinema versions of Dracula include the following movies:
Scream, Blacula, Scream! Dracula AD 1972 Blood for Dracula Horror of Dracula Dracula 2000Here's why I liked each of them. Also, please note that these examples of Dracula…
Live Girls by Ray Garton – Book Review
June 28th, 2010 by Randy Ray | | 1 Comment »
Ray Garton's Live Girls is an erotic, scary, suspenseful, often-gruesome vampire novel that's like having a really interesting nightmare you can't wake from. The characters in Live Girls are your friends and neighbors, the people about whom you start dinner conversations with the words, "Did you hear about...?" Imagine From Dusk Til Dawn with more sex, less action, and believable characters, and you'll begin to have an idea of what kind of novel Live Girls is.
The high concept for the novel is simplicity itself: A spineless magazine…
Great Horror Writing on the Internet
June 24th, 2010 by Randy Ray | | No Comments »I'm always in a state of awe at the amazing writing about horror that I'm able to find on the Internet. Here's a list of some of the better horror related articles I've seen just today:
The Crazies Blu-ray Review - Matt Fini reviews the release of the recent remake of George Romero's The Crazies on Blu-ray. I'm not as big a fan of the original movie as the reviewer, but he makes some good points about how the new version could have been improved. His review of the actual quality…
The 7 Best Selling Zombie Books
June 23rd, 2010 by Randy Ray | | 3 Comments »I enjoyed Bookgasm's post about 7 Current Zombie Books with Brains so much that I decided to write a post about the 7 best selling zombie books that we carry at our store. These aren't necessarily the most current zombie books we have in stock, but our customers love them.
The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks - Even though it came out in 2003, The Zombie Survival Guide is still a best seller. Do my customers know about an impending zombie apocalypse or something? Probably not. The popularity of this…
Fred’s Downtown Philly – Allen, TX Philly Cheesesteaks
June 23rd, 2010 by Randy Ray | | No Comments »I'm going to end my long blogging hiatus here by writing about a totally off-topic subject. (It's not totally off-topic though, because if you're in Wylie, TX, and you're looking for good Philly cheesesteaks, then Fred's Downtown Philly in Allen, TX is worth the drive.) Fred's Downtown Philly is located on the northwest corner of Bethany and Greenville in Allen, Texas. The actual address, if you need it, is 740 S. Greenville Ave., #400, Allen, TX 75002. And their phone number is (972)359-0958. Fred's Downtown Philly is closed Sundays, but they're…
Horror Stories
November 18th, 2009 by Randy Ray | | 1 Comment »We've launched a new project at Horror Stories this week. It's a guide to where to find short stories in the horror genre online. The site lists 13 other websites which link to or allow you to read online versions of horror short stories. Some of the sites feature public domain classics from authors like Ambrose Bierce and H.P. Lovecraft, while others on the list are online fiction magazines with free horror stories you can read. I thought it would be a fun little project to launch, and I'm really proud…
Bestsellers for Week Ending 10/31/2009
November 1st, 2009 by Randy Ray | | 2 Comments »Here are our bestsellers for the week ending 10/31/2009. I'll start posting our best sellers here every Sunday.
Hardback Horror Fiction Bestsellers
My Rotten Life (Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie) by David Lubar The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman Heart-Shaped Box by Joe HillPaperback Horror Fiction Bestsellers
My Work is Not Yet Done by Thomas Ligotti Twilight of the Dead by Travis Adkins The Dark by Ellen Datlow Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs One Silent Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris…
8 Reasons to Buy Books at a Local Independent Bookstore Instead of at Wal-mart
October 26th, 2009 by Randy Ray | | 2 Comments »I thought it might be fun to come up with some reasons why someone would actually buy books at the local bookstore instead of at Wal-mart. Especially since Wal-mart will almost always offer a better price on their books. Here's what I came up with:
Local independent bookstores offer a better selection of books than Wal-mart. I operate a small, niche bookstore with only about 1000 square feet of space, but I'd estimate that we carry 5000 different titles. (And we're an all-horror bookstore.) A typical Wal-mart carries only about 200…