From the Mind of Master Imaginationist Crystal Connor ~"A Trusted Name in Terror."

The Darkness, Artificial Light, In The Valley of Shadows

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

It’s a fan letter, I think…

Word of the Day:
Denouement:
PRONUCIATION: (day-noo-MAHN) noun: The final resolution of the plot of a story or complex sequence of events.

How to survive a horror movie tip # 7
If you find that your house is built upon or near a cemetery, that was once a church that was used for black masses, had previous inhabitants who went mad or committed suicide or died in some horrible fashion, or had inhabitants who performed necrophilia or satanic practices, move away immediately.

So I wake up this afternoon and find this little note in my inbox, it’s a fan letter, I think…

[Dear Crystal,
Let's stop kidding ourselves. This can't go on much longer. Global economies crashing, nuclear fallout, aliens...something big is sure to happen soon. I have a truck, a gun, and an iron will to survive. So I’ve chose you to keep me company during the ensuing months as well as to help me repopulate the planet when all's said and done. All you have to do is keep our camp clean, cook, provide stimulating conversation, and, naturally, sex. In exchange, you will receive protection from hunger-crazed gangs who haven't bothered to learn how to grow food or live on their own, wolves, zombies, et cetera. You will have access to my library, which I'm keeping as history for the new generations of mankind we will produce. More valuable than anything, you'll have newfound respect, pride, and love as the new Eve! I read this story you wrote called the monster and that’s why I think that you, more than anyone else, deserves to live through the coming disaster. Also, if you have a decent sized dog or large stockpiles of non-perishable food that would be great.
Waiting to hear back from you,
Jxxxxx]

Yeah. Not sure if I should be flattered or frightened, lol. Speaking of the speaking of the apocalypse things are finally going well with The Lazarus Antidote, I’m finally at the place where I am starting to like this story. I put it back on back burner to work on Amber’s New Friend. I’m really anxious to get this story in the hands of my new editor, who fucking rocks btw, because I’m really loving the story but I need to make sure the structure is right and the story flow is easy to follow.

I'm sych'd and gearing up for Seattle's Crypticon which is less than 30 days away, Q the butterflies =D I'm super exicted and hope to see some of you guys out there!

On the dark side of the mountian some changes are on the horizon and I'll let you guys know what it is when it get's a little closer but what I can tell you its gonna be an reenactment of the of gunfight at the O.K. Corral because I’ve basically had it up to here. >=(

I'll keep you guys posted
ttys

Sunday, April 24, 2011

DVD Pick of The Week: Movies From Both ends of The Spectrum.

Word of the Day:
HighfalutinPRONUNCIATION: (hy-fuh-LOOT-n) adjective: Pompous; bombastic.
Also spelled as hifalutin or highfalutin' or hifalutin' or highfaluting.


How to survive a horror movie tip # 23
Stay away from certain geographical locations. Such as: Amityville, Elm Street, Transylvania, Nilbog, the Bermuda Triangle, or any small town in Maine.

I’ve got two movies for you this week, this 1st one was recommended by one on my blog followers and the other comes from one of my favorite production houses After Dark Productions.

1st up:
There’s Nothing Out There!


Plotline: seven kids going to a remote cabin and falling prey to an alien! This time around though, one of the kids knows that they are part of a horror movie and knows exactly what is going to happen next, and of course ... his friends don't pay attention.

Scariness Factor: 0 out of 5 stars, there is nothing remotely scary about this movie and I wouldn’t be surprised if this film was the inspiration Scary Movie.

Gross-Out Factor: N/A

Complaints: N/A

High Points: The over the top cheesiness, slapstick dialogue, gratuitous nudity and a random cat! I can’t believe I haven’t seen this movie before now especially since it’s considered to be a cult classic.

Personal Commentary: Had I’d seen the trailer for this movie or saw it in a video store I would have passed it up, but after getting way too many emails from the same follower I knew the only way to make the emails stop was by reviewing this movie. I have to say, I’m glad he persisted. There’s nothing out there is a blast to watch!

Stars: 5 Stars

Where I rented it: Comcast on Demand

Next at bat:
Husk


Plotline: A small group of friends becomes stranded in the country following a horrific car accident, and encounter a psychotic scarecrow while searching for help.

Scariness Factor: 4 Stars out of 5

Gross-Out Factor: N/A

Complaints: The only thing that drove me mad was the very stupid choices these guys made.

High Points: I almost passed this one up because the all of the synopsis suggests that this is another zombie movie (sighs, eye rolling, and head shakes) it has nothing to do with zombies, it’s more a modern day tale of Cain and Able told with Children of the Corn creepiness.

I really liked how they all started turning on each other when things started going wrong, it wasn’t any of that “I can’t go on, save yourself” crap. Towards the end they tried to regroup but things don’t always go as planned.

Another thing I thought was cool was one of the characters developed a stressed induce ability to have visions of past events and it worked nicely to fill in the back story.

Personal Commentary: I’m not really sure how many times you people are gonna make me tell you to stay out of that damn ass cornfield, since you insist on not listening stop crying about it now … it’s your own damn fault.

Stars: 5 Stars

Where I rented it: Netflix

Thursday, April 21, 2011

A day in the life…

So an old fling of mine calls me up wanting to know if he can hire my firm as his wedding planner and another author from the same publishing house as mine sends me a facebook message out of the blue asking me if I’m getting any of my royalty checks, that’s funny because I did the exact same thing two weeks ago. And I had to answer him the same way she answered me…by saying no and sending a friend request.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Bad Dreams, A Few Reviews and Current Project: The ramblings of sleep deprived-delusional-insomniac.

Word of the Day:
Lacuna
PRONUNCIATION: (luh-KYOO-nee)
noun: An empty space, gap, missing part, an opening. (just like in my mind.)

How to survive a horror movie tip # 7
Anniversary nights of executions, horrible murders, or terrifying rituals should be viewed with fear. Especially on the spot where the event took place. Most especially on even century anniversaries. And certainly if you or a friend is somehow descended from one of the original participants.

Wow, I can’t imagine how hard it must be to be a fan of space cadet dingbat (that would be me) super sorry for the absence tons of stuff going on. Today I had to force myself awake from a dream I was having about cupcakes.

I was on trail and the cupcake prosecutor was screaming at me, he said “Is it TRUE Crystal, that you no longer eat cupcakes for breakfast and are now eating APPLES instead?! And is it ALSO true that your even considering TRYING packets of the Breakfast On The Go?!” The courtroom erupted and the honeybun judge was beating the gavel and that’s what helped me wake up because it wasn’t the gavel I was hearing but someone at the door.

And who was it… the Mexican lady selling tamales =/ I am being to think the evils of sugary goodness and saturated fat have joined forces to conspire and sabotage my 50 pound weight loss goal.

So for those of you who also follow me on facebook know that I entered The Darkness into the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards and I made it to the 2nd round! The 1st round was judged on the “hook”, and I was super pumped to have made it past that first round! The next round was judged on a 5000-word excerpt, but I didn’t advance…which is fine because after reading some very nasty feedback that a lot of other authors received they can all kiss my ass because that’s not the kind of project I want to be a part of.

Some of the things that were said about my work pissed me off but is nothing compared to what was said about other author’s work. Here’s my “feedback”

[The narrative was hard to follow at times. It jumped all over the place. Some times, it seemed like the writer was going for noir and at other times, cold speculative fiction. Other times, it read like pure pulp fiction. Not sure if that was intended but it seemed haphazard. It creates a feeling of sloppiness and rushed pace of author who does not respect his/her work enough or his/her readers enough to just settle on one style and go from there.

The world building needs more details. There need to be more transitions between info, showing how one thing relates to another. The author needs to spent more time making transitions between scenes. These are the fine points that get a reader interested in a character, the setting and finally the story. This story has much potential but needs work to fine tune the details.]

Ok, so nothing makes me madder than a lazy reader. Out of all the reviews, comments, and emails I received for The Darkness, this person is the ONLY ONE who had troubles following the plot and felt that my world building needs more detail. I’d be willing to bet that this person didn’t actually read those 5000 words but just skimmed thru it. I’ve entered another contest and I promise to keep you all posted…Wish me tons of luck =D

Book II in the Spectrum Trilogy, Artificial Light is moving along beautifully. I have a new editor Stephanie Kinkaid who rocks btw and we’ve already begun the editing, and even though she rocks I have come to the conclusion that I do not like the reworking phase of book writing…dudes it sucks.

Stephanie was interviewed today Lori Titus (another smoking hot Virgo horror writer, like myself) over at Flashes in the Dark Radio here’s the link to the postcast:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/flashes-in-the-dark-radio/2011/04/17/authoreditor-stephanie-kinkaid

I am working on a story for ...And They All Lived Happily Ever After, called "The Lazarus Antidote" and for some reason I'm having a tough time with it and as of right now its really kicking my ass.

I feel like the pace is not fast enough and there's not enough action so I told myself it wasn't a good story. And then I tried to sabotage my self by asking others to read it so that they could confrim that the story sucks...but here's the thing, so far everyone whose read it LOVES IT. And to tell you the truth I was just looking for an excuss to stop working on it because I'm having such a hard time with it.

I'm not too sure if it's normal for a writer to be so unsure about a project while everyone around them is cheering them on. So I am going to push thru until Friday and then I am going to put it back on the backburner to return to Artificial Light and Amber's New Friend. But what I can say for sure is that I am way happier with what I have now compaired to the very 1st version of this story. I'll keep you all posted.

Oh you guys! Strange Tales of Horror by NorGus Press which features my short story The Monster is now available!! If you click on the book cover on the right-hand side it will take you to Amazon where you can purchase it =D

I have been reading these stories and there pretty amazing, and I have been writing a review for each story and posting them both on Amazon and Goodreads here is the link to the reviews, I have four more I need to post but I will share it will you guys but for now here is the link for what I’ve posted so far:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/145634005

And here another review for Strange Tales of Horror by author Eric Dimbleby which includes a review for “The Monster.”

http://www.facebook.com/#!/note.php?note_id=10150143503102060

Ok that’s all I have for now…DVD pick of the week coming Wednesday