Monster Awareness Month is on now!

OK, so we’re all pretty well aware of monsters here at Undead Backbrain. But there’s always room for more reflection on the not-so-little buggers, right?

Mark Deniz (of Morrigan Press) and Beyond Fiction, following on from their hugely successful Ghost Awareness Month, have instituted Monster Awareness Month — and it’s been going for a few days now. Focusing on monsters from film and literature, with authors and bloggers contributing various posts, including film reviews, interviews, articles, book reviews, etc., Monster Awareness Month will see new articles, on-line films and reviews posted every day of February.

You can read about the mechanics of it all here, set yourself up to download the films (or view them online), and scan daily news and articles here. There’s also a Facebook page where you can keep abreast of the stomping and rampaging.

So far, I admit that the Backbrain (otherwise known as Robert Hood) has been overly prominent on the site, having contributed:

• An Introduction, Where Monsters Dwell (basically an account of my life with monsters)
• Frankenstein: Man and Monster (an article on how Mary Shelley’s monstrous creation has entered our cultural zeitgeist and has been translated to film)
• The First Giant Monsters Part 1: The Real Giant Monsters (an article about dinosaurs as monsters)
• The First Giant Monsters Part 2: Out of Time, Out of Place (how dinosaur and man can interact, according to the cinema)

The First Giant Monsters Part 3: Giant Monster vs Giant Monster (how the tradition of monsters fighting each other originated) will follow tomorrow.

But you can also read a great article on Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1933) by literary agent and editor: Sharon Ring, more on the making of the 1931 Frankenstein from publisher, writer and reviewer, Aaron Polson, and from artist and editor Mikko Sovijärvi a nostalgic reminiscence about Spawn of the Slithis (don’t know what the hell that is? Go find out!)

For monster fans (and we’re NOT just talking giant monsters here) this is a not-to-be-missed event. See you there.