Lee Cushing's Blog - Posts Tagged "supernatural"

One of the things I'm planning for my next book, Pack Hunters, is basically throwing out pretty all the accepted folklore (Most of which is false anyway) concerning werewolves. Gone completely will be the vulnerability to silver which didn't exist until the 19th century and a few new elements are going to be added.
Lee Cushing

Just watched the remake of Fright Night and frankly there wasn't one original thought in the entire film. Even the parts not lifted from the original have been ripped off from other sources, Marti Noxon even ripped off a scene from Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

If you want a neighbour is a vampire story with an original twist, there is always the NEIGHBOURS story in the Trust Casefiles.

In a remote region of France during the 18th century, a murderous beast stalked the countryside leaving a trail of blood and corpses.
The nightmare began during the summer of 1764 with a young woman tending to her cow when a mysterious beast appeared and began charging at her. Her dogs fleeing in terror, the only thing that saved her from being eaten alive were the cows that were able to keep the creature from reaching her. Managing to escape with only a few scratches, the woman was able to give a description of the beast that had tried to attack her.
The creature was described as being the size of a cow with a very wide chest, huge head and neck, short grey ears and a nose that resembled a greyhound. A pair of fangs were visible protruding from each side of its mouth. The survivor also claimed that the creature was able to move at great speed with bounds of up to 30 feet.
The following months saw the mystery beast spreading terror throughout the countryside, leaving the half-eaten corpses and severed limbs scattered throughout the region. As the bodycount climbed, the creature began to be viewed less than a wolf-like beast but as an invulnerable demon.
With the carnage continuing and with people afraid to leave their homes or tend to their farms, the local men united in an attempt to track down the beast, despite the majority of them only having access to the most basic of weapons. Even those who did have the use of firearms found that their guns seemed to have little effect on the beast.
On the 8th October of the first year of the beast's killing spree, two hunters encountered the beast and claimed to have shot it from only a space of ten paces.
The beast fell.
The hunters' victory was shortlived. The beast recovered immediately. The two hunters shot at it again and once more it fell. Appearing injured, the beast did manage to escape into the woods, despite being shot two more times before it was able to evade its pursuers.
Learning about the hunters' encounter with the beast, the local people quickly became convinced that the creature had been severly wounded and expected to soon find its carcass.
The hope that the nightmare was over ended when the beast returned over the next few days and slaughtered more victims.
It was the following month when a Captain Duhamel took charge of trying to hunt down the beast and organised all of the local people into helping nearly the soldiers under his command, 40 on foot and 17 on horseback.
The beast proved to be a formidable and intelligent foe. Every time Duhamel and his soldiers had been convinced that they had managed to kill the creature, it recovered and managed to escape.
The constant failure to kill the beast led to the offer of a large reward to anyone capable of capturing it. Hunters from all over France arrived in an attempt to claim the money, but all attempts were unsuccessful.
In the months that followed, the local people began to feel fed up with the presence of the soldiers and hunters. It was at this time that the beast mounted its most murderous attack to date, right under the noses of the soldiers.
With the news of the beast's killing spree beginning to spread to other countries in Europe, King Louis XV sent a hunter, Denneval, with a reputation of killing over 1200 wolves. Arriving in the region, Denneval began attempting to track the beast with six of the best bloodhounds.
This was the time that the unfortunate Denis family became linked to the legend of the beast.
In March 1765 and Denneval having been in the region for a month, three of the four Denis siblings, Jacques, Julienne and Jeanne were watching their livestock near Malzieu. After lighting a fire for him and his sisters, Jacques heard Jeanne screaming when the beast attacked her. Attempting to save his sister, Jacques fought with the beast and managed to throw it into the fire.
Again managing to survive, the beast escaped.
Left with wounds behind each of her ears and a torn shoulder, the attack resulted in Jeanne becoming a quivering wreck and experiencing intense periods of terror.
Blaming herself for her sister's condition, Julienne vowed that she would kill the beast or die trying and would often head out to provoke an encounter with the creature.
Also vowing revenge on the beast, Jacques joined forces with Denneval. Proposing a new strategy, Denneval attempted to lure the beast out into the open by using himself as bait, at which time his men would surround the beast and trap it with dogs.
The new tactics failed. The beast always managed to evade the hunters and continued leaving mutilated bodies throughout the region.
Two months after Denneval's arrival in the region, the beast was seen stalking a shepherd by a nobleman called de la Chaumette. Alerting his two brothers, de la Chaumette plotted to try to ambush the beast. Managing to shoot the creature and wound it, de la Chaumette and his brothers failed to prevent the beast from escaping back into the woods.
The signs that the beast had been wounded were evident, splashes of blood stained the soil, and the people once again believed that the beast that could not be killed was dead.
The celebrations that followed the belief that the beast was dead faded when a horse rider galloped into the village with the news that the beast had attacked a woman named Marguerite, a friend to Jacques. Heading off to find Marguerite immediately, Jacques found her body on the road leading into the village with her throat ripped open.
The beast attacked and killed another three people during that day, but did not bother to eat them.
Jacques organised the people into using whatever they could find and put the dogs onto the still-fresh scent of the beast. This time he was determined to kill the creature once and for all.
Soon, Jacques find himself face to face with his quarry and attacked it with a bayonet. Appearing unconcerned by any threat that he posed, the beast bared its fangs and leapt forward for the kill.
Jacques was lucky and was saved by the arrival of more hunters who caused the beast to flee.
With the legend of the beast making France look ridiculous, the King dispatched his personal gun carrier, Antoine de Beauterne, to end the beast's rampage.
Denneval gave up hunting the beast in June 1765. That month, the beast embarked on another vicious rampage, killing two children and a 45 year old woman.
Whispers that the beast was linked to witchcraft began to circulate with local priests declaring that it was a messenger of evil sent to punish the people for their sins. Suspicion fell on the mysterious Chastel family whose son, Jean, lived in the wild in the woods.
For the following three months, de Beauterne did nothing but study the beast's hunting patterns. In September, he organised 40 hunters using 12 dogs and chose a starting point near the village of Pommier.
Setting up an ambush for the beast at the Beal ravine, de Beauterne and his hunters began to wait.
The dogs began to bark at something that was still not within sight.
The hunters released the dogs as soon as the beast came into the open. Becoming aware that it was surrounded by the hunters, the beast tried to find a way to escape the trap it had been caught in.
Taking advantage of having caught the beast in the open, de Beauterne fired.
The buckshot struck the beast on its shoulder with another shot going straight through its right eye and into its skull.
The beast fell and the horns sounded in triumph.
Shocked by the following sight, the hunters watched the beast return to its feet and launch itself directly towards de Beauterne. A shot by one of the other hunters hit the beast in the leg and it made a run for an opening in the trap.
Almost having escaped from the ambush, the beast fell and lay unmoving.
The beast was declared to be a rare wolf measuring 6 feet from nose to tail. The animal was stuffed and taken back to the King's court as a trophy.
But there were still those who refused to believe that the beast was gone, including Julienne Denis who was convinced that Jean Chastel knew that it was still out there and believed that the beast was a werewolf.
For the next two months until the end of November 1765, the killings continued but the King forbade anyone from talking about the beast's resurrection.
On Christmas Day, Jacques went off in search of Julienne who had not been seen since the day before. The week after her disappearance, unrecognisable remains were discovered.
The spring of 1767 saw the killings begin again with at least 14 victims of the beast during the months of March and June.
In June 1767, a local nobleman organised three hundred hunters to try to stop the beast, one of them was Jean Chastel, who had loaded his gun with silver bullets.
Setting up a position in the Beal ravine just like de Beauterne before him, Jean Chastel opened a prayer book and read it. Then he waited.
With the hunting dogs close behind it, the beast emerged into the open just a few steps from where Jean Chastel was waiting.
Finishing his prayer, he closed the book and removed his glasses.
The beast remained motionless.
Jean Chastel raised his gun and fired, killing the beast once and for all.

Returning to his village in the spring of 1727 after a number of years in military service, Arnold Paolo bought a small cottage and some land with the intention of settling down. As time went on, some of the other people in the village started noticing a strange uneasiness in his behaviour, which seeme to include trying to avoid meeting the daughter of a rich neighbour.
As more time passed, Arnold was not always able to avoid the companion of his neighbours and soon his marriage to the daughter of his rich neighbour was announced. However the new bride often commented to her friends that he seemed distant.
Eventually giving in to his bride's curiosity, Arnold admitted he had been haunted by the fear of an early death and told her about an encounter with a vampire in a remote area of Greece during his military service, an event which caused him to resign and return to his native village.
Some point later, Arnold fell off the top of a loaded haywagon and died from his injuries.
About a month after his body was laid to rest, several of the local population reported that they had seen Arnold wandering around the village after sunset and others claimed that they were being haunted by him.
Over the next few weeks, several of the people who claimed to be being haunted began to die. Throughout the entire winter, the people in the village lived in a state of terror.
After nearly three months after Arnold's funeral, it was decided that his body be exhumed to confirm whether he had become a vampire. The exhumation party consisted of two military officers, two army surgeons and the authorities of the village.
It was early in the morning that the group visited the quiet cemetery, they soon had removed the coffin from the ground and removed the lid. It was discovered that the body had moved to one side and there was fresh blood which trickled in a thin stream from the side of Arnold's mouth.
The group then proceed to scatter garlic over the remains and drove a stake through the body, which was reported to give out a piercing scream as the warm blood spouted out.
After this operation had been carried out, the group proceeded to exhume the bodies of those who had claimed to have been haunted by Arnold and drive stakes through them.
All of the bodies were eventually burned and the ashes were replaced on consecrated ground

In 1941, Lon Chaney, Jr’s Wolfman was bashed over the head with his own silver headed cane and the use of silver as a means to combat werewolves became part of the standard werewolf lore. (A few years earlier, Henry Hull’s Werewolf Of London was killed by police using regular bullets.)

On the surface it seems like a great idea having a monster that is invulnerable to everything other than silver, making it possible only for those who were extremely lucky to have a silver weapon (like a silver wolf headed cane in the Wolfman) or those who were prepared to hunt down werewolves.

Now if the assumption is made that silver causes a fatal allergic or toxic reaction (As in The Beast Must Die) to werewolves, the advantage of being only vulnerable to silver becauses more of a weakness. It also follow that professionals who hunt werewolves would incorporate silver into their clothing or armour to guarantee no werewolf would survive eating a hunter it had killed.

All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension. Transuranic heavy elements may not be used where there is life. Medium atomic weights are available: Gold, Lead, Copper, Jet, Diamond, Radium, Sapphire, Silver and Steel. Sapphire and Steel have been assigned.

Sapphire & Steel was originally created as a children’s series, something which is most evident in the opening story, as two children, Rob (Steven O’Shea) and Helen (Tamasin Bridge), are the people in need of help from the mysterious “time detectives”.

Production limitations (an incredibly low budget) helped to shape the tone of all S&S‘s serials. Small casts (with usually only a handful of main speaking roles), a handful of sets (only one of the six serials featured any location filming) and very limited special effects tended to be the order of the day.

The unsettling feel of this opening story is quickly established. The location is a large, comfortable and old-fashioned house. Whilst Rob is downstairs doing his homework, his mother and father are upstairs, reading nursery rhymes to their young daughter Helen.

The snatches of nursery rhymes used as incidental music is an indicator that the rhymes are designed to have a sinister, rather than comforting, air. The feeling of unease can also be seen on Rob’s face downstairs – he doesn’t know why he feels his way, he just does.

The fact that we don’t see the faces of Rob and Helen’s parents is a deliberate move, it helps to make their brief appearance another discordant element. When they vanish – after reading a nursery rhyme – Robert attempts to take charge (phoning for the police) although his constant reassurances to Helen that everything will be all right seems to be as much for his benefit as hers.

Shaun O’Riordan’s direction has a few notable moments, especially a long tracking shot – which moves from Helen, alone and frightened in the kitchen, down the corridor and to the front door.

The events so far have primed us for the arrival of Sapphire (Joanna Lumley) and Steel (David McCallum) and their first appearance is a memorable one. They adopt patterns of behaviour which will become familiar – Steel is brusque and business-like, whilst Sapphire is friendly and amusing.

The mystery of their arrival, as well as the fact that Steel knows Rob’s full name, is never answered – rightly so, since part of the tone of S&S depends on the fact that the title characters are inscrutable and unknowable. But although Steel regards the presence of Rob and Helen as little more than an irritation, Sapphire attempts to explain what’s happened and why they’re here.

There is a corridor and the corridor is time. It surrounds all things and it passes through all things. Oh you can’t see it. Only sometimes, and it’s dangerous. You cannot enter into time, but sometimes … time can try to enter into the present. Break in. Burst through and take things. Take people. The corridor is very strong; it has to be. But sometimes, in some places, it becomes weakened. Like fabric, worn fabric. And when there is pressure put upon the fabric….

Sapphire is rather more playful and frivolous in this episode than she’d later become. She changes dresses and hairstyles in the wink of an eye several times, something which impresses Rob no end (who’s already a little in love with her). But Steel’s on hand to bring the conversation down, telling Rob about the dangers in the house. “There are things – creatures, if you like – from the very beginnings of time, and the very end of time. And these creatures have access to the corridor. They’re forever… moving along it. Searching… looking… trying to find a way in. They’re always searching, always looking …”
(Archive Television Musings)

I must mention once again that I began this book with low expectations because supernatural books generally a history of being disappointing. However, I must say that this is undoubtedly one of the best books I have read in the published 'fanfiction' series. story is a giant roller coaster ride from start finish, leaving you breathless as you read it. There is truly dull moment in this book. While some reviewers mentioned the ending boring, I found it perfect. Moreover, the characterisation is impeccable and will genuinely you feel you are reading the story of the real Winchester brothers from the show, rather than just fanfiction.

The second novel for Supernatural follows the Winchesters as they leave the hustle and bustle of New York behind and head to a remote location in Arizona. This novel directly follows the events of 'Supernatural: Nevermore,' but aside from a brief mention of a character from the previous novel in the introductory chapter, the two books are not otherwise linked.

Without giving away the plot, Sam and Dean get a-up a string of gruesome murders that happen every forty years in a small Arizona town, so the Winchester brothers decide to check it out. They show up just in time for first murder, and as the bodies start piling up, Sam and Dean have to figure out who's behind it and how to put a stop to it.

A great novel. It was an easy read with a well-paced plot. My one criticism would be that after all the build-up, the ending felt rushed and somewhat abrupt. The characterization of Sam and Dean was mostly true to their portrayal in the series. One of the strengths of the book was the dialogue, especially between them, which was convincing enough that it was easy to imagine the actors' voices speaking the lines. Additionally, there were a few brief flashbacks to the brothers' childhood that provided some background. Supporting characters, even those who were soon to become victims, were well-described and more than just ciphers.

In terms of TV tie-in novels, I would classify this as one of the superior examples.