Janine McCaw's Blog: SUPERNATURAL CENTRAL

For me, September has always been the start of the official year. Probably because my life revolved more around the start of the school year than anything that ever happened in January.

It`s a busy time of year for everyone, and Supernatural Central is no exception. We`re starting off the month with a spotlight on LaVerne Thompson`s book ZEUS: Lost Gods Book One. Here's the book trailer to get you started:

This book falls into the fantasy/romance genre, and if you read the author's disclaimer that went along with the video, you already know it's not an erotic novel, but it does contain some sex, violence and potty mouth.

What's it about? Here's the description:

What if you woke up one day and found out you used to be a god? But you don’t care when you can’t save the one you love. Unless you claim your legacy and your powers, even if you have to kill your father to do it.

Ze found he would do whatever he must to make sure Kassia lived. She was an innocent.

Kassia lived her life for the last year under a death sentence. She had an end date of three months. This was her last chance to save herself against the thing killing her from the inside. Even accepting the will of a god. He could save her life but at what cost to her soul?

When survival is everything, would you do anything to ensure that you do?

Whew! Sounds like that particular God is busy. So is LaVerne.

She is an award winning, best-selling, multi-published author, an avid reader and a writer of contemporary, fantasy, and sci/fi sensual romances. She also writes romantic suspense and new adult romance under the pen name Ursula Sinclair. She's also a certified chocoholic and is currently working on several projects. Some might even involve chocolate. But writing helps maintain her sanity.

We hope you enjoyed getting to know LaVerne a little better. She came to us via Bewitching Book Tours, but we're making it clear we did not receive anything for this promo. We just like authors here at Supernatural Central.

There's more than book reviews on www.supernaturalcentral.com but we only post book ones here at Goodreads.

Today we're taking part in the audio book blitz of MUDMAN from author James A. Hunter and Shadow Alley Press.

Here's a little bit more about James, in his own words:

Hey all, my name is James Hunter and I’m a writer, among other things. So just a little about me: I’m a former Marine Corps Sergeant, combat veteran, and pirate hunter (seriously). I’m also a member of The Royal Order of the Shellback—’cause that’s a real thing. I’ve also been a missionary and international aid worker in Bangkok, Thiland. And, a space-ship captain, can’t forget that.
Okay … the last one is only in my imagination.

Currently, I’m a stay at home Dad—taking care of my two kids—while also writing full time, making up absurd stories that I hope people will continue to buy. When I’m not working, writing, or spending time with family, I occasionally eat and sleep.

Here's the book description (sorry it's not in audio!) for you:

Levi Adams is a soft spoken, middle-aged Mennonite man—at least he tries to be when he’s not murdering people.

Levi’s a golem, a Mudman, crafted from the muck, mire, and corpses of a World War II concentration camp—killing is just a part of his DNA. He doesn’t like it, but unfortunately he’s been saddled with a divine commission to dole out judgment on those who shed innocent blood. After seventy years as a cold-blooded murder machine, however, Levi’s trying to change his grisly nature. And the AA meetings and church services are helping. A little. But when he runs across a wounded girl, Sally Ryder, during one of his “hunting expeditions,” he realizes self-help may have to go on the back burner.

Someone is attempting to revive a pre-Babylonian murder god, and the road to rebirth is paved with dead bodies. Lots and lots of them.

Now, Levi must protect Ryder—the key to an unspeakable resurrection—and defeat a Nazi mage from Levi’s murky past. But the shadowy mage holds a terrible secret about the Mudman’s unorthodox birth, one offering insight into Levi’s morbid compulsion for bloodshed. It’s a secret Levi would pay anything to uncover: maybe even Ryder’s life. If Levi isn’t careful, he may end up turning into the monster he always imagined himself to be.

If you'd like to get a copy of this, or any other of James' books, head on over to your favorite online retailer. It's got a nice whack of reviews on Amazon if you're still unsure. There is a sample of the audio on Amazon.com

James came to Supernatural Central as part of a Bewitching Book Tours promo. Supernatural Central was not paid in any form for this promo.

See ya soon!

Well now…we're lucky to have Harlequin author Jane Godman stop by today to give Supernatural Central readers a sneak peek at her newest cover. (Drum roll, please.)

Fantastic or what?

Let me tell you a bit about Jane, if you're not familiar with her work. Jane loves the supernatural, ergo, we love her. As her fans know, her stories are full of haunted characters tormented by dark secrets. She writes in many genres, but today we're saluting her Harlequin Nocturne upcoming novel "Immortal Billionaire".

I had the chance to ask Jane a few questions so you could get to know her a bit better, and here's her answers:

Supernatural Central: Jane, can you tell us a bit about your main character in this book?

Jane: Hi Janine, thanks for being involved in the tour! Firstly the main character of the book is called Sylvester de León, and he is the Immortal Billionaire of the title. To an outsider, Sylvester has everything, good looks, billions of dollars, even his own heart-shaped, tropical island. But beneath the surface, Sylvester has everything, good looks, billions of dollars, even his own heart-shaped, tropical island. But beneath the surface, Sylvester has secrets...centuries worth of them. And when my heroine, Connie, meets Sylvester, those secrets are unlocked with a force that leads them on a collision course with the past.

Supernatural Central: Do you believe in the paranormal and if so, do you have an experience you can share?

Jane: I write paranormal romance, so I have to believe! But, I don't have anything to share other than the occasional tingle down my spine. Can I share my dad's experience instead of my own? It goes back to when he was a young man and he was in the air force. He was on guard duty one night in Cornwall and, as he patrolled the perimeter of the barracks, an old man, dressed like a farmer, approached him. When my dad challenged him, the old man disappeared. The next day, when he told the story, he found out that the barracks had been built on farmland and the farmer, heartbroken that the land had been taken from him, had killed himself. His ghost was said to walk the land each night.

Supernatural Central: What titles are you working on now that you can tell us about?

Jane: I have a lot going on right now! In September 2016, my third Otherworld title for Harlequin Nocturne, Otherworld Challenger, releases. Then Immortal Billionaire is out in November 2016. 2017 sees the release of my Arctic Brotherhood series for SMP Swerve. Watch out for my Arctic werewolves, they are hot! The Unforgettable Wolf, book four in the Otherworld series is out in March 2017. Oh, and I have a new series, The Sons of Stillwater, with Harlequin Romantic Suspense, in 2017. So, yes. I've been busy! Thanks! Jane

Well, if that doesn't leave you curious as to what Immortal Billionaire is all about, we don't know what will. So, without letting anything out of the bag, here's the scoop:

Dark secrets and unquenchable desire collide in this captivating paranormal thriller…

Connie Lacey lives a nomadic existence. Alone. Safe. She can't risk being found by the stalker who haunts her waking nightmares. Until an invitation from billionaire Sylvester de León—to spend thirty days with him on his private island, Corazón—proves impossibly tempting. But one look at the gorgeous host's deep blue eyes, and Connie knows there is nothing safe about this paradise and the aristocratic man who calls it home.

The island is cursed…as is Sylvester himself. Yet something in him calls to Connie, ignites a desire that's filled with raw, timeless need. But Corazón has many secrets, each more dangerous than the last. And in a place where everlasting love, the past and fate intersect, even death is only a beginning…

That sounds sizzlingly (yes, I made that word up) dangerous, doesn't it? If you'd like to pre-order a copy of Immortal Billionaire, you'll find it at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Google Play, and of course your favorite Harlequin retailer.

Jane came to Supernatural Central via Bewitching Book Tours.

Supernatural Central did not receive anything for this interview but good vibes.

supernaturalcentral.blogspot.com

This is an update on my earlier SNARKNADO blog found on SUPERNATURALCENTRAL.Blogspot.CA


SUPERNATURAL CENTRAL NEWS FLASH!! – Congrats to guest Karen Lam (Meet the Scream Queen, June 9'th, 2013) for "THE MEETING" winning BEST FILM at the Viscera Film Festival held in Los Angeles this month. The festival recognizes the very best horror films by women. http://www.viscerafilmfestival.com/

Now on to this week's post…

CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED "SHARKNADO"

Love it or hate it, and lots of people are on both sides, it's unlikely that you don't know what I'm talking about when I say "SHARKNADO". But just in case you've been in a cabin in the woods with no access to t.v., print, radio or the internet, Sharknado is what you get when sharks meet a tornado. It's also a movie that aired in the U.S. on SyFy and in Canada on SPACE,and UPDATE...(drum roll) is about to get a limited THEATRICAL release!

Yes, it's bad. But just the right amount of bad to fit into the type of movies these two stations love to air and their fans love to watch. Are there really bad computer generated sharks falling from the sky and eating people? Of course there are!

And are there a bunch of TV. names—the kind of names you think "whatever became of"— in it? Again, Yes. This time it's Ian "Ion" Zierling (90210), Tara Reid (Scrubs), Julie McCullough (Growing Pains), to name a few. Enough of them to make TV fans tune in the way we used to for "Battle of the Network Stars". This is SyFy's secret. They've found our addiction and lured us in with all those Alice Cooper/Danny Bonaduce movies. It's like cocaine to us. And before you laugh at the celebs for being in these cheesy movies, how much money did YOU make for a few weeks work lately?

Cheesy? Ian's character is name FIN for cryin' out loud.

But something happened to this otherwise channel-changer flick. SOMETHING SO DANGEROUS IT SPUN OUT OF CONTROL! Twitter. That's right. Twitter. Sharknado trended. And kept trending. And I have to admit I'm guilty. I couldn't resist giving it the old #Sharknado to see what the rest of the twitterverse was talking about. I mean even MIA FARROW was talking about it. The real one.

And that's what made the movie #FUN. Herein lies the magic. If it had been believable, if it had been an Oscar contender, it wouldn't have generated such BUZZ. And buzz is big. So big, that the sequel has already been announced, once again being hemmed by The Asylum. The original reportedly cost only a million dollars to make. You know it's going to make it's money back at that budget. And you just know that more stars want to do them.

In the meantime, I'm going to whip up a title for the next one and enter the @SyFy twitter contest. Who knows…maybe I'll get to fly there and be victim number 12. Sharknado's going to destroy New York and you know that's never good.

UPDATE: The winning title was SHARKNADO 2: The Second One.

This week, Supernatural Central's review is brought to you by guest host Markus Turner, better known as @MarkusRex82 . This is reprinted with permission from his blog, The Nerdasaurus Rex.

So, the long wait finally came to an end on Friday evening for The Nerdasaurus Rex my friends. The film that I have been looking forward to more than pretty much any film since the last Ninja Turtles film came out back in 2007.

That’s right – PACIFIC RIM finally debuted and audiences around the country are getting a chance to see if big, effects-driven movies about Godzilla-esc monsters battling with Voltron-like robots will sell at the box office. Can a far-fetched idea like alien monsters traveling across time and space using a portal found deep in the Pacific Ocean and to bring about massive destruction on Earth until mankind builds giant robots to turn the tide make enough sense to people to where they will buy tickets to see it?

And more importantly, can a movie live up to the hype that it has created for itself when so many recent movies have been destroyed by the pressure?

Hell – can it live up the expectations of The Nerdasaurus Rex, the guy who has intentionally made sure not to read news articles and watch all the trailers on television for the film? That’s MONTHS of keeping my nerdy curiosity at bay, my friends.

Well, after going out on the opening night and shelling out nearly $20 for an IMAX 3D ticket…

Oh… My… GOD!!

It was everything I could have hoped for!

THE GOOD

First off – I was sold back when I saw the initial trailer months ago on the concept of watching robots and monsters fight it out on the big screen. I didn’t know the plot. I didn’t know who was directing it. I didn’t know anything about the movie except for the snippet of action I saw in the teaser trailer and it was enough to get my nerdy brain to glow like an addict sniffing neon paint.

I loved how it looked then, but NOW after seeing the whole film and getting a chance to let the Jaegers and the Kaiju do their dance of destruction… I can say the film was truly like watching living art. Del Toro’s style was prevalent while still showing something new as the director evolved his usual trends and choices to bring us more grit and metal and less fantasy and steam punk.

In all, the grand battle scenes were amazing, but so were the little touches like the dings and battle scars of the Jaeger robots; the atmosphere of Japan in the not-too-distant future; the way that water and light reflected off the outer, metal shells of the Jaegers; the way that all of the Kaiju were different, yet definitely seemed to come from the same species and were developed using the same inspirations.

Second – While the story was fairly basic and didn’t really do much as far as twists, I don’t think it detracted from the film at all. This is a summer thrill-ride film, plain and simple. There’s no attempt at winning someone an Oscar (although, the special effects Oscars better at least have Pacific Rim nominees) with this film… It’s fun, it’s loud, stuff gets destroyed, you don’t have to think too hard and you can cheer for the good guys.

PACIFIC RIM doesn’t try to pretend to be anything it isn’t. It’s people using giant robots to fight and kill giant monsters. Yes, the major characters all get some flashback/background moments and lots of characters get to grow and develop as the story moves along… but there wasn’t much that was too heavy-handed or felt forced. It really feels like it’s perfectly balanced between the action, the humor and the moments that get us to the next big time fight.

Third – I liked that this film was full of actors who weren’t bigger (if you forgive the pun) than the robots and monsters that are supposed to be the focal point. Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy, Green Street Hooligans) played the film’s main protagonist while Idris Elba (Thor, RocknRolla) and Rinko Kukuchi (Babel) helped round out the main trio. Beyond that, the supporting cast were nearly all excellent (even the two scientists who some are saying were a bit over the top were okay in my opinion).

I just think that if a big-name actor like, say, Tom Cruise or someone on that level was in this role, it wouldn't have been about the story and the sheer awesomeness of monster-vs.-robot... it would have been the next Tom Cruise film (and I think it would not have been nearly as good).

Honestly, though, everyone needs to give Idris Elba a serious pat on the back for helping this movie be amazing. His performance was the driving force in the film and the way his character, Pentecost, seemed to be carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders as he did everything he could to lead mankind’s last hope against unspeakable odds truly made you understand what human civilization was up against. As his teams went into battle and some of them didn’t come home, you could feel the weight of that loss as he reminded everyone to start preparing for the next kaiju attack.

He was great (and even had some of the funniest exchanges in the entire film) and was completely believable – so if giant monsters start popping up out of the ocean depths, we gotta get us a guy like Pentecost.

Finally – I absolutely loved the soundtrack by Ramin Djawadi. So much so that I downloaded it on my way home after the movie and have been jamming to it since I started writing this. The main theme is going to be on heavy rotation on my playlist for a while.

THE BAD

First – in a real shocker for me, I found that the one thing I didn’t really care for was the role that Ron Perlman (who is almost always spot-on in every role he does) as Hannibal Chau. I know he’s one of del Toro’s go-to actors and he usually can do any role you give him… but something about him as Hannibal Chau just felt a bit forced. I think they could have cast someone else in that role and it would have been better, but Chau really wasn’t all that important of a character in the end, so it’s just a minor thing.

Second – In this not-too-distant version of the future, there is a great deal of unrest and turmoil happening for people living under the constant threat of kaiju attacks. This is all hinted at and how in brief flashes of news footage throughout the story, but there isn’t much time devoted to showing the audience how tough life is for people living in an age where you’re only source of protection is a giant robot.

I think that was a missed opportunity and could have been used more in the story, but doing so may have weighed down the film, which (as I mentioned before) is already an excellently edited film and finishes right around two hours in length.

Third – I didn’t like the ending, but it’s still a good. But I can’t get into that until the spoilers section.

SPOILERS (don’t read this section if you don’t want things ruined)

Okay… so it’s starting to get to the point where you all can see where I’m going with this review. However, I do want to point out that while I enjoyed the hell out of this movie, I didn’t like the ending.

Not that the ending is bad – heroes sacrifice themselves to allow others to use a nuke to close the portal that has been allowing the kaiju to come to earth and our two main heroes jettison to safety before their trusty jaeger self-destructs to take out the monsters on their side of the portal.

It’s all wonderful-looking and pulls on your heart strings a bit, for sure… but because the heroes succeed, I cannot see how they’re going to make a sequel to this movie now. I mean, you nuked the source of the monsters AND you destroyed their way of getting here – that’s pretty final as far as an ending goes.

I’m sure they can think of a way for the kaiju to return (possibly they had started spawning young kaiju while terrorizing the planet or while swimming in our oceans? Who knows – but any way of doing a sequel is going to feel like it’s just being done to get more money from movie goers (which I will gladly pay if it means two more hours of monster-on-robot action).

I thought that the “bridge” concept that allowed two humans to pilot a jaeger was a cool one and made for good plot elements. I mean, it makes sense that something that big would be too much of a strain for just one person to sync up with and pilot.

It also makes for a handy way for characters to show us back story, motivations, revealing secrets and letting the comic-relief scientists come up with a solution to beat the monsters.

FINALLY

What can I say people? Is this film perfect – no, it is not. There are a few things that keep it from being a perfect film, but they are in no way big enough to keep it from being a ton of fun and EXACTLY what I was hoping to see.

I’m giving it a 5-star rating because it was just so damned cool to see. I had a ton of fun and found myself shouting at the screen for the heroes to pummel the crap out of the monsters. I laughed. I cringed. I high-fived my buddy Luis when the jaegers brought the pain and took out a kaiju monster. Those factors all add up to a top rating in my book.

I will also go as far as to say that PACIFIC RIM was so enjoyable and so completely the kind of movie I have wanted to see for a long time… that it is officially in my Top 10 Favorite movies.

I don’t know if I can give it any higher praise than that.

Anyway – Please take a few hours out of your weekend and go see this film. If you can’t make it this weekend, then definitely find time to go see it soon because it deserves every dollar we give it. Also (and I don’t normally do this), but I definitely recommend a 3D viewing as the 3D special effects were some of the best I have ever seen.

So have you seen PACIFIC RIM yet? If so what did you think? If not, are you going to? Let me know in the comments.

Until next time!

Turner at 2:00 AM

We'll translate that into five out of five howls! To go to the original post and leave Markus a comment, go here:

http://www.thenerdasaurusrex.blogspot...

Noo…Noo. Noooo!, I DIDN'T MEAN TO FALL ASLEEP…(sigh). CBS, please put this on a little earlier. It's bad enough it's scheduled on Monday, the hell day for most of us, but ten o'clock is late for this (so far) family drama.


Maybe the glimpse of a sex scene in the opening few minutes (he's got nothing on Jason Stackhouse let me tell you) might make you want you to briefly cover your kid`s eyes, but hey, put them to bed already.

I managed to download the pilot on the following wide-awake Saturday morning thanks to the Global TV (Canada) website, check your local station`s website for download availability of the episodes as they air in your viewing area.

UNDER THE DOME is about a town (Chester's Mill) that becomes divided when a mysterious dome appears, locking people both in and out of life as they knew it. I haven't read the novel, so I can't comment on which version is better, but the series is an Amblin/Dreamworks project, so I have high expectations.

The gore goddess in me loved the slicing of the cow, (sorry PETA) when the slice-o-matic divide came down from the heavens. SPLAT! Messy? Yup. Talk about "wrong place, wrong time."

We now have good and bad people trapped inside and outside of a clear wall. Both sides are getting a good view of life on the other side. They can see each other, but not hear each other. Something tells me this is going to get ugly.

Let's do a mini run-down of the people who could possibly stir things up in Whoville. Do we have:

1. The nosy neighbor who tries to tell a reporter that something strange is going on but is ignored?

2. A good-looking mysterious stranger who comes to town and immediately draws unwanted attention to himself?

3. A mentally deranged guy who makes Kathy Bates look like an amateur?

4. A beautiful reporter who skips over the details that her husband is cheating on her?

5. A beautiful, young, naïve newlywed policewoman?

6. A town mayor who might just have his own way of funding deficits?

7. A juvenile delinquent who didn't make it to rehab?

8. The little 5000 watt radio station that could?

Yes. Yes to all. There's more than enough crazies in Chester's Mill to keep us guessing for 13 episodes.

Guessing things like ... why do people occasionally have epileptic fits and say "Pink stars are falling in lines?" Guessing about the ventilation under the dome ... how long will the air last, or anything last, for that matter? Guessing about who's going to go nuts first and kill somebody. (Well, if you've seen episode two, you already know this, so maybe this should read who goes nuts NEXT.)

The pilot episode was well done, with some great effects and strong performances from the ensemble cast. All of the storylines might not be believable, but that's why this fits SUPERNATURAL CENTRAL. Some of my friends are already tired with the 'damsel in distress' situation going on, and there have been several references to similarities with that other creepy book "Lord of the Flies."

Right now, we're giving UNDER THE DOME four out of five howls for great summer fare. But we reserve the right to revisit this at the season finale and take it down a notch if it slides, Mr. Spielberg.

Thanks for tuning in, peeps. Talk to you soon.

Regular readers of this blog probably thought I'd be first in line for this one, but the truth is, I'm not big on open weekend crowds. I hate those seats up front and I am way too cheap to pay the extra bucks to reserve a seat. It's bad enough Cineplex charges extra $$ to layer the butter. But I digress. We're here to talk about the horrors of zombies, not the horrors of corporate greed. I think. It's now weekend deux for this flick, and July holidays are upon we North Americans; Canada Day and the 4'th of July. Pick up your tickets at Costco while you're BBQ shopping. They're less expensive there.

The quick storyline from IMDb:

United Nations employee Gerry Lane traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments, and threatening to destroy humanity itself.

Starring Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, with brief appearances by David Morse and Matthew Fox. Based on the novel by Max Brooks.

Okay, so here's the deal. If you don't like the zombie genre, then it is a given that you will probably not like this film, because it is all zombies all the time, and they are intense dudes. And unlike the d-uh zombies we are used to, these ones can run really fast and like to head-butt car windshields. If you kill one of their kind, they get rather angry about it.

Here's what you will learn:

1. If you are not part of a special forces team, or a U.N. official like Brad Pitt's character Gerry Lane, then you are pretty much toast. Look at poor Gerry, he tried to leave all this world saving nonsense behind him to make pancakes for his adorable kids, but you know what they say, "you can check out any time you like…"

2. RV's seem like a good idea, but as we know from JUST ABOUT EVERY ZOMBIE MOVIE EVER MADE…they just lead to trouble.

3. Never believe your best buddy co-worker when he says "your family is safe with me."

4. Zombies have studied the military prowess of ants. Just watch them outside the wall in Jerusalem. (As Plan-Man, my partner in crime, pointed out.)

5. Snakes on a plane? Puh-lease.
This zombie movie takes itself seriously. Some may say too seriously. It's grittier than TWD and edited so the first 10 minutes of the movie come at you hard and fast. There's a virus out there that is turning the world's population into zombie-like killers. They don't really die and come back to life, they just turn into flesh eaters in as quick as 12 seconds. Gerry Lane is pulled back into active United Nations duty to try and figure out what is behind this latest version of "serial killer Mother Nature."

SPOILER ALERT: If you HAVE seen the movie and think there's no bona fide science behind the hypothesis, then ask my secretary Ms. Google to show you the video of how doctors really are curing terminal illnesses like leukemia with…well, if you've seen the movie, then you know.

I really liked the movie. Yeah, I jumped at least once. I don't think it's easy to portray this genre sincerely. Even Zombieland, (which I think is great) is more tongue-in-cheek than anything. World War Z barely cracks a smile in that regard. Brad Pitt's performance isn't anything earth shattering, but HE'S BRAD PITT so I'm okay with that. David Morse probably had a day's work on the set. I'm surprised they hired a name for the role. The same with Matthew Fox. You're going to remember Michael Jenn's performance as WHO Vault Zombie the most.

I thought the WHO segment ran a little long. Just kill them already and take what you need. And I don't get the bicycles, and I don't know where the dead guy on the cargo ramp went, but I sum it up to crazy times make for crazy decisions. Make no mistake, this is no PLANTS vs. ZOMBIES, so make sure your kids can handle a TWD marathon if you plan to take them. There is always the upcoming COCKNEYS vs. ZOMBIES for those looking for campier fare.

Supernatural Central gives WORLD WAR Z Four out of five howls.

This is the latest post at SUPERNATURAL CENTRAL. http://supernaturalcentral.blogspot.ca/

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know by now that ZOMBIES ARE BIG! Okay, sometimes they're little, and they may or may not be able to take on an animal form, like a dog but never a cat, but REGARDLESS, they have the X-FACTOR as far as creepy things go and they are not about to go away anytime soon.

So with AMC's THE WALKING DEAD on summer hiatus, where do we get our fix of the dead, but not really dead? Well, Seattle writer Joshua Cook has a novel out that mixes CORPORATE GREED with LIFE AFTER DEATH, so you know there's going to be trouble brewing. But more on that later.

Let's talk a little bit about this book. It's not so much the standard, I've bitten you and now you're going to start to walk really slow and mutter something about brains kind of zombie story. It's more like the Frankenstein kind of zombie. You're dead. I'm going to bring you back to life. Uh-oh.

It takes place in a city where I can attest that at least one of the city ferries gets escorted by machine totting militia even as we speak. Seriously. Look out that window on the trip to Anacortes and see what I mean.

So, it's not really a stretch that if something bad were to happen there, all hell would break loose. Which is exactly what happens when the "zombies" start to attack. Our hero, Sam, of course suffers a terrible loss(oh, stop moaning about spoilers) before he meets Gee, who needs to rescue her younger sister from the Roslun Global corporation, the uh-oh guys mentioned above, led by William Lohman. (I don't know if this is a nod to Willy Loman of Death of a Salesman fame or not.) Ruslun Global has developed a serum that brings people back to life…with a few slightly more than minor medical issues.

Other reviewers have said that it ends to abruptly, and while it's true that there's no epilogue sending the surviving characters (see how I did that, without spoilers?) into the sunset, I was satisfied with the ending the author wrote, and I'm giving it 4 out of 5 HOWLS!

Here's where to get the book: http://amzn.to/11jGN9A

You can also catch Josh as a regularly scheduled guest on Timothy Dean Blogs Pirate Radio Show: http://www.timothydeanblog.com/apps/p... or on twitter@FreeBookDude or @ZombieACRES or on facebook https://www.facebook.com/zombieacres?...

I've said it before and I've said it again. I don't have a big fear of demons living here in Vancouver, because a lot of the kick-ass science fiction and fantasy television show are filmed here, and should anything go wrong our bases are well covered. But sometimes it does intrigue me that someone I know welcomes horror into her life. That person is Karen Lam, producer, director and screenwriter of the macabre. As you can see below, WE called her the Scream Queen so we can't take credit for that. But we can pass it on, oh yes we can.

I'm not alone thinking that things other people find bone-chilling, seem to make her almost giddy. She's been featured in Fangoria and Diabolique magazines because that's the way she rolls.

On Karen Lam’s filmmaking: "A meticulous emotional meat-grinder, genuinely redolent with directorial horror film prowess. Nicholas Roeg meets Ted Bundy." - John Skipp, Bizarro Central


See? It's not just me. That's a quote from her webpage at www.karenlamfilms.com . Look at the picture below from her 2011 short film Doll Parts. Doesn't it scare be bejeesies out of you? Because it should. It's creepy.

But Karen isn't.

Karen and I first met several years back when she was working at BC Film, and I was working as a programming distributor. So I'm checking in on what she's working on lately, and asking her the 5 not-so-thought-provoking questions that this blog likes to do.

SC: You have been (and really still are,) both. What's scarier? Being a lawyer or being a filmmaker?


KL: Way scarier to be a filmmaker. I'm a Spock at heart, and in law, there's an underlying logic and reasoning you can rely on. With film, it's like jumping out of a plane without a parachute. And I'd say that goes for all the creative arts.


SC: Rocky Horror or Little Shop of Horrors?

KL: Little Shop of Horrors. I live for that "Suddenly, Seymour" moment.

SC: Who'd you rather be on a plane with…Elvira or Bai Ling?

KL: Elvira, hands down. Elvira is a horror icon, and an incredibly smart woman that I respect. Read what you will into that.

SC: I have never been able to look at clowns since Stephen King's "IT". What horror novel left you with chills?

KL: I remember the novel that completely freaked me out was The Omen. The moment they dig up the mother's grave and it's a jackal's skeleton...ugh!


SC: What's keeping you busy these days?


KL: I'm still in post on my feature film "Evangeline." We locked picture this week, but there's another month of music, VFX, colour and sound design to go. After that, I have two tv series I'm developing, and another two feature film scripts to write. Gotta get crack-a-lacking!


Just as an aside, SUPERNATURAL CENTRAL knows that Karen also has her own Venus fly trap. How do we know this? Because she's not the only CREEPY one. Bwahaha. And we saw Cassandra Peterson at VanExpo and think Karen made the right choice on the question above. But if not, it's a plot for a movie, n'est pas?


Thanks for the interview, Karen.


For pictures and videos of Karen's work, please head on over to the SUPERNATURAL CENTRAL official site at http://bit.ly/Olk3Qc

I'm going to re-direct you over to my SUPERNATURAL CENTRAL blog for the review of this title, but I promise you a droolworthy photo and a fun video.
http://supernaturalcentral.blogspot.ca/