Indie Horror Weekend

Horror Fans and writers Mattew Kremer is at it again. The site he started, Indie Horror is having a 3 day extravaganza of Horror and Horror writing with a contest on April 1st -3rd.  Matthew is one driven man.  I love this site and his enthusiasm for Horror. Check it out, if you are a fan of Horror, a Horror writer or a critic, you do yourself an injustice not becoming a member of this site.  

http://indiehorror.org/2011/03/19/indiehorror-weekend/

Trying Kindle

I'm going to dip my toe in the Kindle pond and see how it works out.  On April 1st I'm going to make available a small collection of six shorts in one book.  There will be a Vampire story, a Werewolf story, one about summoning Demons, and one will be about a slimy killer. It will also have tale from inside the head of a psycho and finally one with Vampire/Ghoul like characters.  This is going to be a nothing ventured nothing gained type of trial for me, something to maybe get the old name recognition flowing.  After April 1st I will have a link on this blog to the book which I tentatively intend to call
Fear by John Marino  6 tales of Horror
Let the Kindling begin

Recommended Reading

While this first book by my favorite author was written in 1985 I still must recommend reading this one. Clive Barker is my favorite because he has a way mental mind "blasting" you (insert expletive there). Here is s synopsis as provided by Wiki.
I know I'm being lazy using someone elses synopsis but it's a good description of the book.


Marty Strauss, a gambling addict recently released from prison, is hired to be the personal bodyguard of Joseph Whitehead, one of the wealthiest men in the world. The job proves more complicated and dangerous than he thought, however, as Marty soon gets caught up in a series of supernatural events involving Whitehead, his daughter (who is a heroin addict), and a devilish man named Mamoulian, with whom Whitehead made a Faustian bargain many years earlier, during World War II. As time passes, Mamoulian haunts Whitehead using his supernatural powers (such as the ability to raise the dead), urging him to complete his pact with him. Eventually Whitehead relents and chooses to meet with Mamoulian as Marty races to prevent whiteheads daughter becoming entangled as Whitehead seeks to escape his fate.

Showcased Author

Haunted Writer

Lisa McCourt Hollar is a horror writer,(who might have her own ghost according to her neighbors) that I have met online and after having had the pleasure of reading some of her work, decided I wanted to do a showcase here.  The first tale I read was called "The Birth of Evil", about a twin with precognitive like nightmares.  Without being a spoiler, I will say I enjoyed the twist at the end.  The story is at this link.

 http://indiehorror.org/community/forum/writing-group2/showcase-forum5/the-birth-of-evil-thread9/

Since reading that first story, on and off I kept seeing her name on twitter and Indie Horror.org as well as the blog world. So I chanced a visit to her blog   http://jezrisworld.blogspot.com/ and there I read some more of her work. Now I am a follower. 

She did a story for the Indie Horrors contest, Cannibal Cookoff. The story was set in a carnival and pretty much that story made me a fan as I am a sucker for a horror story with a setting in a place that is supposed to be happy but is in reality evil. The story, aptly named "Carnival" can be found at  http://indiehorror.org/community/forum/writing-group2/workshop-forum4/the-carnival-thread54/

Lisa is a married mother of four who has been writing pretty much her whole life despite the fact that in the third grade she was diagnosed as being dyslexic. It was in the fourth grade class of Mrs. Dock (Mrs. Dock held a creative writing story each week and chose winners on Fridays.) that Lisa began her love of writing when her story was chosen best of the week. In High School, Lisa wrote for the school Newspaper but afterwards stopped writing for the benefit of anyone other than her children. It was during a dark time in her life when her passion for writing was renewed. She lost her home and had to move to a shelter.  There, she shared her stories with the other women and decided she needed to write more. 

Two years ago she married her husband and he supports her in her endeavors to become a published writer.  Lisa loves to read, write, and watch horror.  On the weekends her seventeen year old daughter and she have been known to watch multiple movies in a row.  She is also involved in the Girl Scouts with her youngest daughter.  

At present Lisa McCourt Hollar is working on a Vampire Novella called Vampyres:  Book One, Traditions and Myths.

She has two shorts available on Kindle at

 http://www.amazon.com/s/qid=1300046454/ref=sr_nr_seeall_1?ie=UTF8&keywords=Lisa%20McCourt%20Hollar&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3ALisa%20McCourt%20Hollar%2Ci%3Astripbooks

I wish Lisa all the success she has worked hard for, and look forward to reading more of her stories. You should definitely check her work out. She is a haunted writer who is worth reading.

This weeks horror quote 3/3/11

Oops a day late this week sorry.

Here's the quote for you to guess

"I have such sights to show you."

4th place in Cannibal Cookoff

Congratulations to Katie M John who took the top honor in the Cannibal Cookoff hosted at Indie Horror with her story The Venus Club

All the entries were good ones and it was a tough contest.  I myself tied for fourth place so thanks to everyone who voted for my story Fine Dining.

The results were as follows

1st place The Venus Club by Katie M John
2nd place Welcome to the Neighboorhood by AnnaReith
3rd place Rite of the Sanguine by ravencorinncarluk
4th place a tie between Mr. Vore by JasonDarrick and Fine Dining by johngmarino

I enjoyed reading all of the stories by talented writers. I encourage everyone to check out the site, read the stories, and see the full results of the contest if you have not yet done so.

 http://indiehorror.org/