Greetings! I’m the author and illustrator for the “In the Time of the Dead Trilogy.” What holding these titles means is that I not only had the chance to write the books, but I was also able to do the covers and the interior artwork for them. For someone like me, a person who has always loved everything about books, it was kind of a dream come true. So what I’d like to do in this guest post is to show you the three different styles I used to do the interior work that is sprinkled through each of the books.

We’ll start with the first book in the series, “The Zombie Axiom.”


For all the books, I completed the illustrations digitally, using Photoshop. But as you can see in this book, I tried doing a bit of a pen and ink, crosshatching technique, where the darker values are built up with lines drawn upon lines. Like this:


And this:


Now, I really like working with this technique, and I was very satisfied with the finished pieces. However, for the next book I was interested in a look that wasn’t so hard-edged. I wanted something a bit more rough and dirty-feeling. This brings me to the images in the second book in the series, “The Warring Dead.”

The Bazaar Of Bad Dreams
by Stephen King
Publisher: Scribner
Pub. Date: November 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-1501111679
Pages: 512
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Author Stephen King, the master of horror suspense, will be releasing his newest collection of stories - The Bazaar Of Bad Dreams on  November 3, 2015 through Scribner, which will features 20 novellas and short stories.

The collection features a mix of never-before-published titles and previously released ones, such as Mile 81 (originally published as an e-book), Premium Harmony (published in The New Yorker), Batman and Robin Have an Altercation (published in Harper's Magazine), The Dune (published in Granta), A Death (published in The New Yorker), The Bone Church (published in Playboy), Morality (published in Esquire), Afterlife (published in Tin House), Ur (published as an e-book), Herman Wouk Is Still Alive (published in The Atlantic), Under the Weather (published in the Full Dark, No Stars paperback), Blockade Billy (previously published as a novella), Tommy (published in Playboy), The Little Green God of Agony (published in A Book Of Horrors), That Bus Is Another World (published in Esquire), Drunken Fireworks (previously published as an audiobook) and Summer Thunder (published in Turn Down The Lights). Previously unpublished titles includes Mister Yummy, Obits and Bad Little Kid, though the latter was published as an audiobook in Europe.

While Mr. King is known for his horror novels, not all of the stories in this collection are meant to be scary as there are dramas, character studies, science fiction and thrillers. It would take me forever to go over each and every story, so I'm going to pick just my favorites.

Blockade Billy is a baseball tale about a minor-league player, William "Billy" Blakely, that is brought in to be the catcher for the New Jersey Titans. He becomes a great addition to to team and gets the nickname "Blockade Billy" for his ability to stop runners from crossing home plate. Sadly, Blakely has a deadly past that eventually catches up with him. I read the novella when it was originally released in 2010 and I absolutely enjoyed it. It's a great baseball story, but with a Stephen King twist.

Premium Harmony is a short, but moving tale about a man named Ray Burkett who loses his wife and dog while on his way to Walmart to buy grass seed. It's a fast-paced tale set in Mr. King's fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine. It's simple, but well-written story that stays in your head long after you finish reading it.

Despite my love for all things horror, I had never watched the Poltergeist films until I was in my mid twenties. I don't have any explanation for the for the delay as the movies played countless times on TBS and TNT during the 1990s. After watching a segment on some entertainment show about the curse of the Poltergeist movies, I only then became interested in watching them. Luckily, at the time it was near Halloween, so I was able to purchase all the films at my local Walmart.

To make a long story short, I quickly fell in love with the franchise, yes, even the third and final installment. I'm not a fan of remakes or so-called reboots, so I wasn't thrilled when I heard that the original film was being remade. I had no attention of ever watching the film, but I got bored a few nights ago and watched a free screener of the remake.

Instead of featuring the Freeling family, the remake centers on Eric and Amy Bowen and their children, Kendra, Griffin and Madison, moving into a new home, despite the fact that Eric has lost his job. It doesn't take long for Griffin to figure out that the house is haunted as he hears noises in the wall, electronic devices goes crazy and his little sister Madison is talking to someone or something that can't be seen.

Of course nobody believes Griffin that is until the night Eric and Amy go out to dinner and Kendra is in charge of babysitting. Both Kendra and Griffin are attacked by a paranormal force, and Madison disappears into thin air.

2. Enter the link to your terrifying tale in the haunting list below (enter your Blog Name and the direct link to your post answering this week’s question. Failure to do so will result in a curse).

 

3. Visit other haunters in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading other posts and possible become a new creeper.  The purpose of the hop is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.
 

I was freaked out when I read Suffer the Children by John Saul when I was a teenager. I've been wanting to reread it, but I can't dare myself to do it.

Linky List:

The Excorism of Molly Hartley
Director: Steven R. Monroe
Cast: Sarah Lind, Devon Sawa, Gina Holden
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release Date: October 20th, 2015
Retail: $29.99
ASIN: B013U8EDHE
Running Time: 96 minutes
Rating: Unrated
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Now available to own on Blu-ray & Digital HD is the horror film The Exorcism of Molly Hartley, the sequel to the 2008 supernatural teen drama The Haunting of Molly Hartley. Directed by Steven R. Monroe, the film stars Sarah Lind, Devon Sawa and Gina Holden. Special Features includes Exorcism: Beyond One Truth, Clovesdale Institute: Calssified Security Camera Footage and Director Diaries.

Set six years after the events of the first film, Molly Hartley (now played by Sarah Lind) has graduated college and has become the youngest lawyer in her firm to become partner. To celebrate her 24th birthday, she has a tryst with a couple, but wakes up the next day to find them dead in her bathtub. When the police finds her, Molly is acting crazy and is sent to a Catholic mental hospital.

Ever since Molly turned eighteen-years-old, a cult had put the soul of the devil into her body and on the sixth day of the sixth month on the sixth year (666) the devil will be released into our world. Dr. Laurie Hawthorne (played by Gina Holden) tries her best to help Molly, but is thrown a curve ball when Molly begins talking in another voice and acting oddly. Hawthorne believes that Molly is possessed by some sort of demon and seeks the help of the former priest Father John Barrow (played by Devon Sawa), who is now a mental patient.

Barrow had recently performed an exorcism that resulted in a deadly outcome. At first he wants nothing to do with Molly, but after meeting her and speaking to the actual devil, he takes up his faith again and tries to drive the devil out of her with an exorcism.

With All Hallows' Eve only less than two weeks away, there's still plenty of time to read a good spooky novel. 

Author John J. Zelenski has taken time out of his busy schedule to do a Q&A about his his newest novel, the supernatural thriller The Jounral of Ezekiel Walker.



When did you become interested in storytelling?

I became interested in telling stories at an early age. As a child, I would love to have stories read to me, and I would use my imagination to create my own mental version of the book. I think that love to create my own scenes and descriptions of the characters naturally carried over to the creation of my own stories to share with others.

What was your first book/story published?

I was quite young, and it was a self-published title called, “Money for Sale.” It was a guide meant to direct people to the investment strategy of investing in baseball cards and sports memorabilia. I think I sold possibly three or four copies, but it was a lot of fun and the research was very interesting.

What inspired you to write The Journal of Ezekiel Walker?

The Journal of Ezekiel Walker is actually the prequel to Walker’s Vale, now in pre-production for a film adaptation. The Journal of Ezekiel Walker gives a background and history to the small and eerie town of Walker’s Vale, Pennsylvania. It also provides some insight into the one of the main characters, Ezekiel Walker, a most understood man.

What character in The Journal of Ezekiel Walker is the most/least like you, and in what ways?

I think that award would go to Ezekiel Walker himself in the “similar” category. He is like me in that he is loyal and will do whatever it takes to defend his friends and families from enemies. The least similar character, hopefully, is Simon Tremblestone, the main antagonist. He is insincere, corrupt, greedy, and manipulative to the furthest reaches of the moral spectrum. You might say he is the devil himself!

What is your favorite part in The Journal of Ezekiel Walker?

In my most recent years, I've become a fan of animated movies, but for some reason I never saw the 2012 3D stop-motion animated ParaNorman. Well, that is until I stumbled upon it on ABC Family during the summer, which I watched about fifteen-minutes of it. I found the DVD of it at my local Walmart a few days later for under $5.

Directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler, ParaNorman centers on an 11-year-old boy named Norman Babcock (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee). His family thinks he is a bit odd due to the fact that he loves horror films and he sometimes talks to himself. Actually, what they don't know is that he has ability to see and talk to the dead, even his own grandmother. As you can probably guess, Norman isn't popular at school and is bullied by Alvin (voiced by Christopher Mintz-Plasse). However, he accidentally befriends a bullied chubby kid, Neil Downe (voiced by Tucker Albrizzi).

While in the school bathroom, Norman is visited by the spirit of his recently deceased crazy uncle (voiced by John Goodman), who tells him that he must take up the yearly ritual of reading a story from an old book to keep a witch's curse from destroying the town.

Not knowing what else to do, Norman ventures into the woods where the old cemetery containing the graves of the town's founding fathers are buried at. He attempts to read a fairy story from the book, but it is too late as the curse is unleashed upon the town. Agatha "Aggie" Prenderghas, the witch causes a supernatural storm that raises several zombies from their graves.

Norman must team up with his sister Courtney (voiced by Anna Kendrick), Neil, Neil's older brother Mitch (voiced  by Casey Affleck) and the bully Alvin, in order to escape the zombies' clutches, locate the witch's burial and save the town.