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My Favorites of 2021

My Favorites of 2021

Published by Johnny Compton on December 10, 2021

Favorite Film

Kicking things off with a decidedly non-horror favorite before we dive deep into world of frights.

I have missed going to the movies. I love being in the theater. The pandemic has seemingly made many people realize that they in fact don’t like going out to the movies. They might even be willing to pay extra to bring the movie straight to the comfort of their living room or bedroom (or home theater, if they have it like that). And if that’s your preference, it should go without saying that there’s nothing wrong with that. I like the big screen, myself, even when there aren’t many other people in the theater. Hell, especially when the the theater is sparsely populated. I caught Summer of Soul with my significant other and it was the first time I’ve ever been “alone” (save for my partner, obviously) in a theater to see a film, and it was a fantastic experience. Of course, at least 90% of the good vibes I felt while watching it was a product of the film itself. READ MORE

Some Advice on Writing Advice: Elmore Leonard’s Rules

Some Advice on Writing Advice: Elmore Leonard’s Rules

Published by Johnny Compton on July 29, 2020

Elmore Leonard was one of the greats. I own and love Out of Sight, Killshot, Get Shorty, Mr. Majestyk, Valdez is Coming and a few more. He’s one of the writers I wish I could write like, but my propensity for wordiness often precludes it. He is still an inspiration and a titan.

He has a list of “10 Rules for Good Writing” that you can find pretty easily online. Like other writing advice lists, it is considered fairly unassailable by some. Understandably, at least on the surface. Advice from a legend is priceless. Strangely, though, his rules do not align with the content his ten favorite books. I haven’t read every single one of the books on that second list, but the ones I have read tell me that several of his favorite books–per his official website–contain things that flout the “rules.” READ MORE

My Most Anticipated Horror Books of 2020

Published by Johnny Compton on January 11, 2020

Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre

World War Z inspired multiple, similar efforts through the years, trading zombies for some other brand of monster or threat. Robopocalypse and its sequel took the “oral history of humanity’s brush with genre-inspired Armageddon” approach into the realm of science-fiction horror. 2018’s A People’s History of the Vampire Uprising is essentially World War V. At least the pretty cleverly named Sleep Over (I’m a sucker for a quality pun) did something different with the format and made the immediate threat something passive that can’t be shot, hacked up, bombed out or set aflame: mass insomnia. READ MORE

Daily Horror History, July 27th: The Amityville Horror and The Lost Boys

Daily Horror History, July 27th: The Amityville Horror and The Lost Boys

Published by Johnny Compton on July 27, 2018

The last big cash-in on the “Satan’s Gonna Possess and/or Kill You” novel and film craze of the 70’s barely has any direct Christian Devilry in it, especially when compared to its forebears: Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, and The Omen. The evil forces at 112 Ocean Avenue that the film implies can compel a man to commit familicide are a bit of a potpourri of paranormal perniciousness. The house was allegedly built on an “Indian burial ground”; the mass-murderer who used to live there is almost implied to be a quasi-doppelganger of the father and husband (and burgeoning possessed murderer) who currently lives there; and, yes, the home was once occupied by a Satanist, but that last part almost feels like a last-minute add-on. READ MORE

Favorite Book Covers: THE CATALYST KILLING

Favorite Book Covers: THE CATALYST KILLING

Published by Johnny Compton on February 26, 2016

It’s very easy to overdo an homage. If you hew too close to the source of inspiration it can feel redundant and ironically uninspired. The iconic “watchful eyes” effect from the The Amityville Horror, for example, looks watered down and wholly unimaginative when mimicked on the poster for the remake of The Haunting. While I’ve never believed that subtlety is inherently better or more artful than bombast or conspicuousness, in the case of an homage, less is often preferable to more. READ MORE

Favorite Book Covers: JOYLAND

Favorite Book Covers: JOYLAND

Published by Johnny Compton on January 15, 2016

There’s never been a shortage of bland, middling book covers, and given the volume of self-published / fledgling-press books available today we’re not lacking for amateurish covers either. I’m not looking to pick on blatantly bad book covers, though. There are sites, blogs, tumblrs and more already devoted to that, for starters, and the worst covers really need no words to describe what’s wrong with them. I’d rather take a look at covers that I think work–or that I at least find interesting–and offer an explanation of why I think they work, while contrasting them with other covers that strike me as lacking, lesser or lifeless. READ MORE

Confessions of a Fearphile: Simon’s Soul by Stanley Shaprio

Published by Johnny Compton on January 19, 2015

Simon's Soul Cover1It took a while for me to realize that the things that scared me most were products of my imagination. That’s not to say I’ve never been scared by a movie or a book, obviously. But much of what’s really stuck with me through the years were products largely or sometimes solely of my mind. I forget exactly how young I was when I started praying for nightmare-free sleep before going to bed, but it should have been apparent to me then. And if not then, it should have been apparent around the time I first became aware of a relatively obscure novel titled Simon’s Soul. READ MORE

First New Books of the New Year

First New Books of the New Year

Published by Johnny Compton on January 11, 2015

Belated Happy New Year’s greetings everyone. I promise to do more than virtually no blogging whatsoever in 2015.

On to the topic of the present post. I had never been to a library sale prior to last week. The good folks in Bandera, Texas–a forty-five minute drive northwest of San Antonio, into and through the Hill Country–were holding such a sale at the County Library. I got there a little later than I’d have liked to, but there was still plenty to choose from, and the picture above is the loot I made off with (thanks to the ladies running the sale who were kind enough to provide the box for my bounty). READ MORE

Choose Your Own End, er, Adventure – R.I.P. R.A. Montgomery

Choose Your Own End, er, Adventure – R.I.P. R.A. Montgomery

Published by Johnny Compton on November 15, 2014

My intent isn’t to be reductive or morbid here, but with the unfortunate recent death of R.A. Montgomery, now’s as good a time as any to reminisce about the impact that the Choose Your Own Adventure series had on me as a kid.

R.A. Montgomery was co-creator of Choose Your Own Adventure along with Ed Packard; a Williams College and Princeton graduate, respectively . These weren’t works of grand children’s literature, nor were they meant to be, but their interactive nature was effective at keeping kids glued to a book. The undisputed stars of every CYOA novel were the bad endings. Particularly for a burgeoning horror fiction fan like me, the myriad ways to die, disappear, destroy everything or otherwise accidentally choose the path of failure were fascinating. READ MORE

The Worlds Between Words – Devil in a Blue Dress

Published by Johnny Compton on June 27, 2010

I recently finished Devil in a Blue Dress, Walter Mosley’s excellent hard-boiled mystery novel. Within the first third of the book there was a line that struck me like a solid swing of baseball bat to the abdomen. Mosley’s lead, World War II veteran Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, describes the fear that seized him during his introduction to combat.

“The first time I fought a German hand-to-hand I screamed for help the whole time I was killing him.”

As I made it through the rest of the novel, that line would to flash across my mind from time to time. There’s nothing aesthetically remarkable about the above line. It’s not meant to be poetic. It has no intention of showing off any metaphors or similes. But that one sentence captures the character’s experience with violence and presents a scene worthy of its own short story. Even with the novel done, questions born from reading that sentence persisted. READ MORE