The next episode of Mike Bogue and Todd Tennant’s daikaiju extravaganza, Tales of King Komodo, is now available!
Something huge is moving underground and even King Komodo may not be able to stop it.
Check it out here!
If you haven’t caught up with the first episode yet, try this link instead.
The excellent new Gothic anthology Exotic Gothic 2, in which my story “Kulpunya” appears, has just been announced as a finalist in the Shirley Jackson Awards anthology category. These Awards salute original works for their “outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror and the dark fantastic”.
Exotic Gothic 2 — unsurprisingly a follow-up to the successful Exotic Gothic — was edited by Danel Olsen and published by Ash-Tree Press in 2008. As well as my story, two other scary tales by Australians appear in it — by Terry Dowling and Stephen Dedman.
The book has already come in for some high praise:
‘With its stellar line-up of international talent, EXOTIC GOTHIC 2 is the must-read anthology of the year’ (F. Paul Wilson, author of JACK: SECRET HISTORIES).
‘The concept of a horror anthology structured by world regions is enticing in itself. Danel Olson’s first such compilation of exo-terror tales in EXOTIC GOTHIC included some of the finest writing in the genre. In this sequel anthology, which is even more focused on unfamiliar territory, the writing is equally fine and each of its locales is well explored for the peculiar horrors they hold. What H. P. Lovecraft did for New England, EXOTIC GOTHIC 2 does on a global scale. (Thomas Ligotti, author of TEATRO GROTTESCO.)
The book is well worth your time — and I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed as the awards are announced.
I first stumbled upon Kaaron Warren via her story “Bone Dog”, which she had submitted to my partner Cat Sparks for possible inclusion in the second Agog! anthology, Agog! Terrific Tales (Agog! Press, 2003). It was a perverse, nasty tale that begins with these words:
In the porn industry, models don’t usually get to choose the venue for photo shoots. I guess ‘Fat Slits’ has to be a bit more flexible than other magazines; some of us can’t get too far from home.
The story was as outlandish as this opening suggests: beautifully written, intelligent and mind-numbing — and clearly the work of some sort of crack-addled goth chick. Cat accepted it at once. When I finally met Kaaron, probably at the launch of the book, I wasn’t prepared for the suburban mom she turned out to be. Of course in time this image was revealed to be a façade, hiding a bent imagination made all the more effectively grotesque by her tight grasp on the ordinary details — and perversities — of life. These days she’s had many stories published, has won awards and has produced an excellent collection, The Glass Woman (Prime Books, 2008). She’s still a great mum, too, as well as a smart, generous and open-hearted friend and a lovely person all round.
I was excited — and a little jealous — when I heard that she’d sold not one, but three novels to the new, high-profile UK imprint Angry Robot. Horror fiction is about to receive a massive shot in the arm.
Her first novel is due to be released in July in Australia — and subsequently elsewhere. It is called Slights and if the cover below isn’t enough to get you going, you need to be slapped.
I interviewed Kaaron about her new book, her view of the genre and much else besides:
I tend to write in worlds which are just a side-step from ours. That way, anything is possible. I like the freedom of story-telling that gives me. I like to write from the inside, not as an observer or a questioner. Those characters have a role in many stories, but to me they can lessen the emotional nature of story-telling because they are always questioning, which means they are not understanding.
I’ve set stories in Fiji inspired by the great mounds of rotting cars along the side of the road. Also by the huge trees with massive, flat based foliage which the locals say are haunted. I’m planning a ‘cursed village’ story, which again I think will be written by an outsider. The thing is, the people of that village, and all the locals who talk about it, accept the curse as fact. Which is an interesting way to write a story, but not so dramatic.
Read the whole interview here.
New: The Institute of Séance (13 April 2009)
More Ghoul Girl Street Scenes (12 April 2009)
Update: The Strange Experiment of Doctor Purefoy (12 April 2009)
Update: Attack of the Giant Leeches (10 April 2009)
New: Jaws of the Mississippi (7 April 2009)
Update: The Land That Time Forgot (7 April 2009)
New: Attack of the 50 Foot Ghoul Girl (6 April 2009)
Quick: Kungfu Cyborg Trailer (5 April 2009)
Update: Transmorphers 2 (5 April 2009)
Update: Kungfu Cyborg (3 April 2009)
Swords, Chicks and Zombies… Again (3 April 2009)
Another Day of the Triffids (2 April 2009)
Update: Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus (2 April 2009)
Smoking cannabis can invoke paranoid delusions. We all know that. I remember the effect lengthy sessions of weed indulgence had on the minds of friends during the halycon days of the 1970s. But now — a film that supplies its own paranoid drug hit!
Bong of the Dead (US-2009; dir. Thomas Newman)
Synopsis:
Tommy and Edwin are a couple of potheads who happen to survive a mass zombie outbreak. Since they are alone in the world, they spend most of their time partying and smoking weed. One day they discover that by using zombie brains as fertilizer, they are able to grow some super potent pot! Problem is, since the government has cleared out all the zombies in their city they have to go on a road trip in order to find more zombies. It is an action adventure road trip movie from hell with plenty of pot smoking and many laughs! There will be bud!
Trailer:
This weekend’s cinematic horror treat can be described as a western/zombie mix loosely inspired by Amando de Ossorio’s Blind Dead series of films from the 1970s.
Boot Hill Blind Dead (US-2003; short; dir. Chris Mackey)
Tagline: She came to the Wild West sideshow, not knowing she was the main attraction!
The 16-minute film is cheaply made — and the image on this print a bit low res — but it’s worth staying through the slow beginning and rather static nature of the narrative to experience Ron Ford’s rather creepy performance as the sideshow spruiker. Of note is the music, which seems to originate from here:
The film:
Starting today, in an all-colour first, writer Mike Bogue and artist Todd Tennant’s original graphic novel serial Tales of King Komodo will be appearing here on Undead Backbrain.
Beautifully drawn, the daikaiju epic was originally published in the pages of G-Fan issues 83 to 87, but it is seen here for the first time in colour. It is made up of five episodes and the Backbrain will be putting one episode up each week — though I will hold off on the final episode for a while as it has only just appeared in the pages of G-Fan. You will have to grab a copy of that excellent magazine to learn about KK’s ultimate fate, at least for the time being.
Episode One (the first of five episodes) is now available here. Enjoy!
Special thanks to Todd and Mike for their generosity in allowing us to bring your this special treat!
Kaiju Search-Robot Avery has tracked own some excellent images from the new in-production daikaiju eiga Shinkaijû Raiga [aka Deep Sea Monster Raiga] (Japan-2009; dir. Shinpei Hayashiya). For a fuller treatment of the background to the film, see this Backbrain article.
Click to enlarge
Gallery:
This weekend’s Fright Flick — coming to you a little late due to real-world complications — is about family dynamics, revenge and Big Bugs.
Justice For All (short 11.40 min; directed by Francesco Gastel)
By way of introduction, here is a behind-the-scenes picture of one of the bugs being created in the Lee Romaire Studios (Creature and Character Effects Artists):
And now, click here to watch Justice For All. Note that you need to have Quicktime to view it.
I’d say it’s hard to believe anyone would make the following — but if you know anything about Japanese reality TV, maybe you won’t find it remarkable at all.
Here a bunch of kids have been told that a zombie is coming and they have to deal with it. It’s both funny and… well, insane. At least one of the kids — who very bravely faces up to the zombie with his toy dinosaur — is clearly traumatised by the end.
There’d be general outrage if anyone attempted this on Australian television!
