Here’s a small selection of the horror and genre news that caught our eye during the last week …
Tor.com and Den of Geek present special screening of Night of the Living Dead
As part of the exciting multi-day virtual convention TorCon, Tor Books and Nightfire, in conjunction with Den of Geek, will be presenting an extraordinarily unique evening — with bite — on Saturday, June 13 at 8:00pm EDT: an exclusive film screening and discussion of George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, hosted by Romero’s co-author Daniel Kraus, and joined by some of today’s top horror authors. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead is one of the greatest, most influential horror movies of all time. Join four modern masters of the horror genre for a live screening of this classic movie and an undead celebration of The Living Dead (Tor Hardcover; On-sale: August 4, 2020), Romero’s forthcoming all-new zombie novel, with his co-author Daniel Kraus. Kraus will be introducing the film and then joined for a lively discussion afterwards of all things Romero, zombie, and horror with special guests Grady Hendrix (The Southern Bookclub’s Guide to Slaying Vampires), Cassandra Khaw (Nothing But Blackened Teeth) and Paul Tremblay (A Head Full of Ghosts, Survivor Song). The screening and discussion will be streamed live on Den of Geek’s Twitch channel with lots of extra surprises in store. Fans will have the opportunity to join in the chat discussion during and following the film. You can register for the event, here.
New from author Christopher Stanley and The Arcanist, The Lamppost Huggers and Other Wretched Tales, available now
The man trying to move on with his life now that his demon has been exorcised. The woman who knows her son has been taken, even as he sits by her side. The scorned professor who’s found a missing work from The Planets Suite. Published by The Arcanist on 1 June 2020, Christopher Stanley’s debut flash fiction collection, The Lamppost Huggers and Other Wretched Tales, boasts an impressive assortment of characters trying to make sense of a world gone horribly wrong. The darkness here is home to vampires, werewolves, witches and ghosts—but it’s the monsters you’ve never heard of that should worry you the most. So check your doors and windows, turn out the lights, and order your copy now, here.
How many times have you said, the book was better? And how many times was that actually true? The cinema of the fantastic has benefitted from literary adaptations on a level unlike any other genre. With such brilliant authors as Mary Shelley, Robert Bloch, Pierre Boulle, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert Louis Stevenson to choose from, it’s no surprise that fantastic film shares its pedigree with literary fiction. But do films never live up to their literary inspirations? Or are some movies just … better than the books that inspired them?Join genre critics Jim Nemeth and Bob Madison for a rule-busting examination of 21 classic – and not so classic – horror, fantasy and science fiction films, and the classic – and not so classic – books that inspired them. It Came From…The Stories and Novels Behind Classic Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction Films will delight legions of movie buffs along with devoted readers of cherished fantastic fiction. Released on 19 May, get your copy now, here.
Following on from his recent novella, Juniper, Ross Jeffery presents a new novella-in-flash. Tethered explores the fractured relationship of a father and son. Each story is told with unflinching and honest prose that is both hard hitting and heartrending. These stories delve into themes of toxic masculinity, love, hope, despair, domestic violence, sexuality, weakness and overcoming oppression. Tethered also asks the bigger question of ‘do we ever escape the harm our parents do to us; or do we go through life marred and influenced from our upbringing. While not falling strictly into the horror category, some of the themes are certainly horrific. Released 1 June, Tethered is available now, here.
KEV HARRISON