“On the Adaptation of “The Frolic” from Prose to Screen” appears in the latest double issue of Grimscribe Press’ wonderful VASTERIEN magazine. In the piece, we examine what is the first adaptation of a Thomas Ligotti short story into cinema. Available now in VASTARIEN: Volume 3, Issue 2, Fall 2020
“Christmas in July” new short story in Christmas Horror Volume III from Dark Regions Press
Thrilled to announce CHRISTMAS HORROR VOLUME 3 — Pre-orders are available now, including an amazing limited edition from Dark Regions Press. My new story “Christmas in July” featuring Chuck from “Lucky Chuck and the Sunshine Express” returns with some new holiday mayhem.
Christmas Horror Volume 3 is here! The third installment of our popular Christmas Horror anthology line features stories by authors Richard Chizmar, Norman Partridge, Stephanie M. Wytovich, Jeff Strand, James Chambers, Lisa Morton, Richard Thomas, William Meikle, Jason V Brock, John Palisano and Simon Strantzas!
Christmas Horror Volume 3 features original wraparound cover art by artist Zach McCain and the deluxe hardcover edition features multiple color interior illustrations. The ebook and paperback editions are shipping to customers this week!
https://darkregions.com/…/christmas-horror-volume-3-in…
“The Revival of Stephen Tell” in TALES FROM THE LOST Volume II alongside Gaiman, Hill, and others
New story alert! “The Revival of Stephen Tell” will be appearing in TALES FROM THE LOST Volume II alongside authors such as Joe Hill, Neil Gaiman, Heather Graham, Tim Lebbon, and more. The full table of contents is below.
“The Revival of Stephen Tell” centers around an up-close magic show, where performer Stephen Tell seems to unfold panels on his head, transporting both his audience and himself into a macabre, shadow realm.
TALES OF THE LOST: VOLUME TWO AND VOLUME THREE Edited by Bram Stoker Award Winner Eugene Johnson and Shirley Jackson award nominated author Steve Dillon. Coming Later in 2020 from Things in the Well and Plaid Dragon Publishing. With cover art by the brilliant Francois Vaillancourt, and interior art by the amazing Luke Spooner.
We lose many things during our time in this universe. From the moment we are born we start losing time, and loss becomes a part of our life from the beginning. We lose friends (both imaginary and real), loved ones, pets, and family. We gain stuff and lose stuff, from our socks to our money. We can lose our hope, sanity, passions, our mind, and perhaps even our soul! In the end when death finds us, we end up losing everything… Don’t we?
Loss is part of who we are. We can’t escape it. We learn from it, grow from it, and so much more. Some of the greatest stories ever forged come from loss. Within this book is some of those stories
TALES OF THE LOST VOLUME TWO:
Forever by Tim Waggoner
Someone Lost, Someone Saved by Heather Graham
Scritch Scratch by Ben Monroe
Cracks by Chris Mason
20th Century Ghost by Joe Hill
Three Rooms With Hellitrope by Kaaron Warren
Home Theater by Vince Liaguno
lost Little Girl by Christina Sng
Mr. Forget-Me-Not by Alexis Kirkpatrick
The Revival Of Stephen Tell by John Palisano
Case Of The Wendigo by Tracy Cross
Don’t Ask Jack by Neil Gaiman
Here’s Our Tragic Heroine by Matthew R. Davis
October by Lucy A. Synder
Unforseen by Greg Champman
The Deals We Make by Lisa Morton
A Hole In The World by Tim Lebbon and Christopher Golden
Try Not To Die: In the Pandemic! Available for Pre-Order
Since early this year I’ve been busy co-writing a book in Vincere Press’s TRY NOT TO DIE series with Mark Tullius. We had a great time of it!
Welcome Aboard the Cruise Ship Aria. Prepare for the Ride of Your Life in this Suspenseful Choose-Your-Own-Adventure!
As the Heliovirus ravages the guests and crew of the cruise ship Aria, teenagers Dylan and Amy face a quarantine while their loved ones fall ill. Docked indefinitely in San Francisco Bay, the teens and those aboard face another grave threat as a seeded terrorist group uses the situation to their advantage. With every choice possibly being their last, will Amy and Dylan have what it takes to survive?
In the latest entry in the Try Not to Die series, authors Mark Tullius and John Palisano have collaborated to bring forth a lightning-paced, hair-raising, adrenaline-fueled thriller. In this book, readers can make choices at the end of each chapter. Some will allow them to continue the adventure, while others lead to creative, gruesome deaths.
Will you be able to do whatever it takes to save your life? You will certainly find that out because after all, the choices are yours to make!”
Pre-Orders are up now for an October 30, 2020 release!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HDBJ6JV/
VANITY FAIR “This Was the Decade Horror Got “Elevated”
This Was the Decade Horror Got “Elevated” in VANITY FAIR magazine December 2019
VANITY FAIR’s Laura Bradley wrote a terrific article, continuing the dialogue about how horror is ever changing, and used quotes from yours truly. Pretty darn cool to be quoted alongside horror filmmakers Guillermo Del Toro, Jordan Peele, Ari Aster, Andy Muschetti, Oren Peli, M. Night Shyamalan, and more. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY LAUREN MARGIT JONES; IMAGES FROM THE EVERETT COLLECTION.
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/12/rise-of-elevated-horror-decade-2010s?fbclid=IwAR24bzm7G2dxxBxBSZcF1Ksd8c0RoyoEg9pPHgnk6wg1I7DgbuSBMJoy5nM
Scaring up an Oscar article in the Los Angeles Times
The LOS ANGELES TIMES has an article out this week, “Scaring up an Oscar”, which features interviews by Randee Dawn with some of the horror genre’s biggest filmmakers: Guillermo Del Toro, Jordan Peele, Ari Aster, Andy Muschietti, Dave Eggers, and me! It was a huge honor discussing the past, present, and future history of the Academy Awards and horror. Most especially? How much horror has evolved into something . . . dare I say it? Respectable.
Strange Tales of the Macabre series launched!
When Lisa Morton proposed we gather a group and release a series of eBooks, each themed, and each featuring some of my favorite authors and people, I jumped at the chance. To hell with my overfilling inbox and commitments! How could I resist doing what I love most? I could not. And here we are with this wonderful collection, named by Eric J. Guignard: STRANGE TALES OF THE MACABRE! For my theme, I immediately picked GOTHIC, as I am presently knee-deep reading and discussing Gothic fiction for a long-running book club at downtown Los Angeles’s THE LAST BOOKSTORE.
In Eric J. Guignard’s, “A Curse and a Kiss” one does not get more Gothic than visiting the world of Beauty and the Beast, with an unusual take, as the story is seen from a different point of view than we’ve read before: that of Belle!
In Kate Jones’s, “Mountain”, family secrets and old curses play out against a Christmas background with a cast of characters that burn into your psyche like chains rattling outside your door on a cold, rainy night. ‘Mountain’ is Kate Jonez at her atmospheric best.
In Rena Mason’s, “Of Earth and Bone”, has us meet a surveyor sent to the Great Wall as punishment because of his unrequited love for his boss’s wife, but then ends up going back in time and experiencing the Great Wall in a fashion more intimate than he’d ever believed.
In Lisa Morton’s “Tamlane”, you can feel the old school Los Angeles grit and grime. We have an old building brimming with history . . . some of it may even be supernatural . . . threatened to be torn down. But will a secret tryst be enough to save the building? Will a father truly listen to his daughter, destroying the past and all the building hides? A terrific piece of modern gothic fiction on all fronts.
In my own, “Wings Made from Water”, we find ourselves in the midst of a modern gothic story whereas a young man and the family he is forced to live with are haunted by the mysterious disappearance of her cousin in the woods of San Quinlan, California.
Here’s hoping you enjoy STRANGE TALES OF THE MACABRE: GOTHIC, as well as the other titles in the series centering on STRANGE TALES OF THE MACABRE: GHOSTS edited by Lisa Morton, STRANGE TALES OF THE MACABRE: STRANGE JOURNEYS edited by Lisa Morton, STRANGE TALES OF THE MACABRE: POST-APOCAPLYPSE edited by Eric J. Guignard and STRANGE TALES OF THE MACABRE: STORMS edited by Kate Jonez.
You will find links to each volume below!
“Humani” a new short story in Space & Time magazine
Thrilled to announce a new short story appears in Space & Time magazine, edited by Angela Yuriko Smith. “Humani” is a straight science fiction story, where an unsung hero make a last stand to save the world. No one will ever know.
You can read an excerpt and pick up the issue at: https://www.spaceandtimemagazine.net
“The Prince of Darkness and the Showgirl” is out now in Fantastic Tales of Terror
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Catherine Cavendish returns with The Possession of Anneliese Michel
The Possession of Anneliese Michel
In my new novel, Damned by the Ancients, nine year old Heidi Mortimer b
ecomes the target for the long dead Dr. Emeryk Quintillus. So begins a battle between the forces of evil and frightened parents fighting for the life, and soul, of their beloved child.
In real life, there have been numerous accounts of children and young people being possessed by evil spirits and one of the most extreme of these is the shocking case of Anneliese Michel.
Her story provided the inspiration for the film, The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Anneliese Michel was no child, but a 23 year old, devoutly Catholic German girl suffering from mental disorders and epilepsy. From the age of sixteen her behaviour began to undergo worrying changes and it was at that time she was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy by a consultant neurologist. She was prescribed medication but, sadly, the pills did not work well for her. She began to believe herself possessed by a demon. She said it appeared to her, spoke to her and told her she was damned and would rot in hell. Desperate, her religious parents decided to seek help outside the medical profession.
They turned to the church but the priests they consulted refused to perform an exorcism, stating that she clearly needed medical help. Anneliese insisted she was possessed and her behaviour continued to deteriorate. She would speak in tongues, eat coal and spiders, demonstrate a strong aversion to religious images, had convulsions and would even drink her own urine off the floor, lapping like a cat. On occasions she would bark like a dog and was known to have bitten a bird’s head off.
Finally, her parents found a priest, Father Alt, who said she didn’t look like an epileptic and successfully petitioned the Bishop for an exorcism to be performed on her. By now, Anneliese was convinced she was possessed by five demons, Lucifer, Cain, Adolf Hitler, Judas Iscariot and Nero. She endured the torments of 67 exorcisms conducted by Father Alt and exorcist Arnold Renz, sanctioned by Bishop Stangl, during which the demons would argue with each other, their voices emanating from Anneliese’s mouth, in low growls.
At this time, Anneliese would frequently say she was, “dying to atone for the wayward youth of the day and the apostate priests of the modern church.”
She broke her knees through her fervent practice of kneeling to pray repeatedly throughout the day. Even with that terrible pain, she continued the practice.
Anneliese Michel finally died of starvation and dehydration in 1976, having refused all food and drink over a period of time. At her death she weighed just 68 pounds. Two years after her death, her parents and the two priests were found guilty of causing her death by negligent manslaughter. The priests were sentenced to six months in prison (later suspended) with a further three years on probation. Her parents were not given a custodial sentence as it was deemed that they had suffered enough.
To this day Anneliese’s grave is a popular tourist attraction and there are many who continue to believe that she truly was possessed by devils.
Demons of a different kind are at work in Damned by the Ancients. Here’s what to expect:
INFINITY IN DEATH
Vienna, 1908
Gabriele Ziegler is a young art student who becomes infatuated with charismatic archeologist Dr. Emeryk Quintillus. Only too late does she realize his true designs on her. He is obsessed with resurrecting Cleopatra and has retained the famed artist Gustav Klimt to render Gabriele as the Queen of the Nile, using ashes from Cleopatra’s mummy mixed with the paint. The result is a lifelike portrait emitting an aura of unholy evil . . .
Vienna, 2018
The Mortimer family has moved into Quintillus’s former home, Villa Dürnstein. In its basement they find an original Klimt masterpiece—a portrait of Cleopatra art scholars never knew existed. But that’s not all that resides within the villa’s vault. Nine-year-old Heidi Mortimer tells her parents that a strange man lives there.
Quintillus’s desire to be with Cleopatra transcends death. His spirit will not rest until he has brought her back from the netherworld. Even if he has to sacrifice the soul of a child . . .
Damned by the Ancients is available from:
About the author:
Following a varied career in sales, advertising and career guidance, Catherine Cavendish is now the full-time author of a number of paranormal, ghostly and Gothic horror novels, novellas and short stories. Cat’s novels include the Nemesis of the Gods trilogy – Wrath of the Ancients, Waking the Ancients and Damned by the Ancients, plus The Devil’s Serenade, The Pendle Curse and Saving Grace Devine.
Her novellas include Linden Manor, Cold Revenge, Miss Abigail’s Room, The Demons of Cambian Street, Dark Avenging Angel, The Devil Inside Her, and The Second Wife
She lives with her long-suffering husband, and a black cat who has never forgotten that her species used to be worshipped in ancient Egypt. She sees no reason why that practice should not continue. Cat and her family divide their time between Liverpool and a 260-year-old haunted apartment in North Wales.
You can connect with Cat here:
