On Sequels

I'm not a fan of sequels. Film or book, sequels are generally made for the sake of the almighty greenback...or are they? You can't put a blanket statement like that on anything or else white heterosexual males would all be serial killers, right? Right. So I suspect there are a lot of reasons for sequels, as there are a lot of reasons for people to start killing.

Having grown up just after the horror movie heyday of the 80's and watching all of those shitty sequels on VHS in the early 90's, I became well acquainted with the method of rehashing the same old shit on a shoestring budget to cash in at the box office. Sure, some of those sequels aren't total shit, but let's face it, most of them would have been better left on the cutting room floor. If it wasn't for my love of horror I wouldn't have watched every Friday the 13th, Halloween, or A Nightmare on Elm Street film, but of course I watched them all and still do from time to time, so maybe there's something there. Why not milk a good franchise, right? Wrong.

What I'm tired of is a horror film doing well (or even just okay) and promptly there's a sequel in the works, even though the film itself was wrapped up neatly in the end and would have stood alone nicely in the annals of horror film. I ask myself: why? Why was there another film after Saw and Hostel? (Strangely enough I thought Hostel 2 was better than the first--whaddya know!) Why was there a sequel to the Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity? Wishmaster, The Omen, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, The Descent, Jaws, The Hills Have Eyes, and so many, many more should not have had sequels. These are just off the top of my head, though there are much better examples out there. Then I have to ask myself: Did A Nightmare on Elm Street really need one, much less seven sequels? Probably not, though I'm a sucker for Freddy and pretty much like every one of them with the exception of that ridiculous Freddy Vs Jason flick. But...the first is the best and would have remained more terrifying a film had Freddy not turned into a bad one-liner.

I think maybe I'm just getting older and more ornery and it bugs me to see so few original ideas, always waiting for the summer string of sequels to hit the theaters, uninspiring, tired and pulling in far too much cash from what can only be described as a sheep-like or desperate populace. There are something like five Saw films, five or six Final Destinations, and Paranormal Activity is well on the way. But, in retrospect, I suppose it's been this way at least since the slasher films of the late seventies and eighties, and it will continue in the name of supply and demand. I mean, why try to adapt a wonderful book or come up with something fresh, or even a twist on an old trope, right?

But what about books? How do sequels fare when it comes to the written word, and why are sequels so popular? I couldn't tell you from experience, because I can count how many sequels I have read on one hand. I'm not including a numbered series of books such as King's Dark Tower series, but sequels along the lines of Jack Ketchim's Off Season, Peter Giglio's Beyond Anon or Stephen King's Dr. Sleep. I have noticed a trend towards the trilogy, particularly in zombie fiction (a sub-genre I'm bored to death with). Perhaps that means the author has an epic story that can only be told in three parts. In many cases that falls under the same category as King's Dark Tower series (not that he really knew where it was going from the beginning back in the early eighties!). Like film, I can assume that the popularity of a story can merit the author penning a sequel for the sake of their fans. It's something I don't understand. I've read stories that I enjoyed so much I wished they would never end, but when I finish a book like that I don't yearn for a sequel. I say leave it be. Don't stir the ashes looking for a few pieces of charred wood for a smaller, less comforting fire. It's not that sequels don't work, they can, but I think more often than not they fall short and I'd much rather see fresh ideas. That being said, for the first time in my life I am looking forward to reading a few sequels: the aforementioned Beyond Anon by Peter Giglio, Kayla Undead by Bryan Smith, and Dr. Sleep by Stephen King. Perhaps these books will shift my view of novel sequels. I'll get back to you on that.

Guts and good cheer to all!

Robert Essig

DOA II TOC Announced

This Fourth of July, celebrate your 1st amendment rights with the release of DOA Volume II.

 Blood Bound Books' most popular anthology is back. Loved by some, hated by others; DOA is unlike any other anthology they've done before. And DOA II will shatter whatever taboos you had left from the first round.

Authors include:
...
Wrath James White
Jack Ketchum
J. F. Gonzalez
Robert Devereaux
David Quinn
Monica J. O’Rourke
Shane McKenzie
Daniel I Russell
Raymond Little
Laura J. Campbell
Calie Voorhis
Thomas Pluck
Ken MacGregor
Kristopher Triana
J.S. Reinhardt
Harper Hull
Joshua Dobson
Wol-vriey
Kerry G.S. Lipp
Anton Cancre
K. Trap Jones
D. Lynn Smith
Robert Essig
Kelly M. Hudson
Gregory L. Norris
Matt Kurtz
John McNee
David Bernstein

 

Here's the link to the virtual release on facebook: DOA II. There will be giveaways, story samples and more!

A Few Books and Novellas I've Read this Year

I'm always trying to read more. Being a slow reader and having sparse leisure time, I have to find that happy medium between reading and writing. At times all I want to do is write on my work-in-progress, but I understand how important it is to read, though I don't read as varied a selection as I would like. I'm working on it. I tend to stick with horror because I dig the macabre, man! I read a mystery here and there and even a sci-fi book, but horror is where the heart is at.  Here are a few books I have read in 2013. I don't do many reviews because I'm terrible at it, so a quick little blurb for each one should suffice.

Mute by Jeffrey Hale

This book will be released soon from Grand Mal Press. I read an advanced copy and thought it was a great departure into the post apocalypse without the use (and sadly these days over-use) of zombies. Nope, Jeffery's vision of the bitter end starts with a whole new breed of creature, and it's a real doozie.








Infinity House by Shane McKenzie

This is a novella that probably holds the place in record books for most maggots in a piece of fiction. But that's not the whole of the story. There's much more than all the maggots, but you can't get them out of your mind after reading Infinity House. This is a refreshing (if that word can be used to describe nastiness) piece of horror in an urban setting reminiscent of the move People Under the Stairs. I am very much looking forward to more of Shane's work.






The Freakshow by Bryan Smith

The Freakshow has been around for a while, one of Bryan's Leisure titles. I bought the e-book version and gave it a spin in January. Good stuff! I have only read three or four Smith novels and I always find them to be solid and oftentimes disturbing. This one was no different. I like the idea of a freakshow, but I wasn't expecting the calibre of madness that is The Freakshow. I look forward to reading Kayla Undead later this year.







Whisonant by Mark Allan Gunnells

This was one half of a novella double from Sideshow Press and marked my first taste of the writings of Mark Allen Gunnells. Easily read in one sitting, this mysterious horror story was a very satisfying journey that did not go where I thought it would. You gotta love that. There's nothing more disappointing than predicting the ending of a story.  Just when you think you have this one figured out, that's when a bomb is dropped on your head. Very clever read. I look forward to more of Mark's work in the future.


I'm currently over one-hundred pages into Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box and loving it.

Happy reading!

It's been too long...

...Since I posted here. Shame on me.

I am always thinking about which direction to take my writing, which publishers to contact and submit to, and what the future holds. In the end, it's all about sitting down in front of the ole laptop and punching keys to form words and string them together into sentences that, over a period of time, will create a story. Once the story is edited, chopped up, edited again, and scanned for annoying typos, well, then it's ready for submission. That's all I can do.

Or is it?

I have been spending more time writing in these two months of 2013 than on-line. I wrote a 67K word first draft in about 30 days, which is a record for me. In the tail end of 2012 and the first week or so of this year I wrote a 55K short novel that I'm now editing and revising as I write my next novella. Multitasking is a great and necessary thing.

I neglect my blog from time to time and I hate myself for that. I know I should keep the blog and facebook current, but I find that I would rather write stories than blog posts. At work I think of good subjects, but by the time I get home, eat dinner, spend time with the family, all I want to do is write stories. I want to rectify this and post on here at least once a week. Can I manage that? I suppose we'll see.

Cheers!

No CGI in the New Evil Dead Movie

I read that there will be no CGI whatsoever in recent remake of the classic horror film Evil Dead. I think this is brilliant. I've been waiting for a filmmaker out there to have the balls to actually go old school and thumb their nose at what people have been conditioned to and what is cheaper, yet, in my opinion and probably that of many others, looks just as cheap if not completely fake and or cartoonish.  Let's face it, we've become used to computer generated images in our films, particularly those in the horror genre.  We just accept it though, deep inside, we know it looks like utter shit and when done terribly it can draw us out of the movie in an instant.

Remember The Exorcist?  Of course you do, and you may remember the scene where Regan's room drops to freezing temperatures and you can see the priest's breath as he is attempting to expel the demon.  They filmed that scene in a huge refrigerated room to achieve that important detail, but now...oh hell no, the CGI team can just add in some fake breath after the movie is filmed.  Looks real enough, right?  No.  It doesn't and it never has.  Same thing with snow.  A filmmaker can hardly be bothered to use fake snow because they can get the CGI team to insert it after the film is shot.

Now, there is room for CGI, but it needs to be used delicately and, in most cases, should be restricted to the background.  The viewer shouldn't know that something has been computer generated or enhanced.  Once the viewer consciously thinks to themselves that yes, CGI is in use, the filmmaker has failed.  I figure I may be in the minority on this one, but that's how I feel. I have never been able to get into superhero movies because they look like cartoons. Spiderman swinging through skyscrapers just looks ridiculous. I'd much rather watch Tim Burton's Batman (and I did a few weeks back--still holds up after all these years).  Monster movies are full of CGI, and most often they are unpalatable.  It can be done even to create something huge and menacing, but the FX must be finessed rather than an inexpensive substitute for real prosthetics and make up. 

There is no werewolf transformation quite like that in An American Werewolf in London, no nasty creature like the thing in Cronenberg's The Fly or, for that matter, Carpenter's The Thing.  You couldn't have created such vile monstrosities with CGI, and it has been tried.  Good god it's been tried, and failed at every turn. I liked Cabin in the Woods, but I had to seriously excuse the bombardment of CGI during that final sequence of events with all the monsters and madmen. It really was kind of ridiculous, but even I, someone who has a deep loathing for CGI, can look past such uninspiring effects from time to time. I have to if I want to watch movies anymore because CGI has become, sadly, the standard...

Until now.  I am eagerly awaiting the release of Evil Dead not only because of the fact that they went old school and used real FX, but also due to the striking trailer. My distaste for remakes is equal to that of CGI, but this one has me interested.

Cheers!

Goodbye 2012...Hello New Year

Haven't been posting much as of late. Shame on me. Maybe I'll change that in 2012. I sure hope so.

In retrospect 2012 wasn't so bad. A lot of people cannot say the same considering politics, the economy, and the general state of humanity, but for me it was a good year overall. Of course, the politicians are playing Russian roulette with the American taxpayer right now, and their decisions will affect the middle class one way or the other (though I am, politically speaking, considered poor). If we go over the fiscal cliff, well...I don't know what to think.

But enough about that shit. I digress. What 2012 brought for me was the publication of my first novel Through the In Between, Hell Awaits, of which I couldn't be more proud of. To add a cherry on top, I sold my second novel People of the Ethereal Realm to Post Mortem Press. Those accomplishments alone made my 2012 a success. Though I sold fewer short stories, I made more money off of them, so take that however you like. I'm very pleased, and I can only hope to increase my reputation and sales in 2013.

On a personal level, my son is healthy and I did a metric shitload of work on my house (new flooring, remodeled my son's room, paint, baseboards, etc.). Doing the labor myself saved a pretty penny. The downfall of the year is that with getting older the need for health care is increasingly necessary. My wife has had an eye infection that the doctors and specialists can't seem to properly diagnose. That or they have their thumbs firmly planted up their asses (as I suspect some of them do). A trip to the ER without health insurance is a major bummer (to use some well worn SoCal vernacular). It's tough, but crunching the numbers we cannot decide whether it is worth paying for medical insurance or just dealing with the hospital bills (insurance is freaking outrageous!). Anyway, that's the big shit storm at the end of a decent year, and the bills haven't stopped coming in. On top of that, the eye infection, though seemingly healed, will likely come back (it came back once already). We can throw money at it, but until we find a doctor who gives a shit, we're screwed, glued and tattooed. I see paying ridiculous premiums for health care in 2013. Robert may be working an extra day or two a month, who knows.

All of that aside, I hope we all have a wonderful and prosperous 2013.

Cheers!

Through the In between, Hell Awaits -- OUT NOW!

That's right, folks!  My debut novel from Grand Mal Press, Though the In Between, Hell Awaits, is now live! Available in print, for kindle, nook, and at smashwords.

After an ancient tribe of sentinels disbands, the realm between Earth and Hell devolves into a land where vile beasts roam free and corruption reigns. In this aberrant land time is only relative, and pain can last forever. On Earth there are three strangers in search of something tangible, something real, something that gives meaning to their lives. Little do they know that a grisly murder in San Diego will mark the beginning of a series of events that will draw them to a world of madness, torture, and lawlessness where they will be forced to fight for their desires and their lives. Once in the realm of the In Between will they ever be the same again? Is there a way back home to Earth, or does Hell await?

“Essig brings a fat slice of urban horror combined with his uniquely abstract vision of a hellish world. Endless suffering abounds! For fans of down and dirty horror!” - Daniel I. Russell, author of Samhane

Cheers!