It is one of the joys of my life that both of my daughters love to read. At ages 10 and 7, they have progressed from board books to picture books to chapter books; from “Goodnight Moon” to “Green Eggs and Ham” to “Harry Potter”. I was a voracious reader as a child. My mom taught me to read before I went to school and I never looked back. Many an hour was spent curled up in a chair, absorbed… Read more »
For the final post in my “Halloween” series; I thought that I would discuss the three movies which I think are among the scariest of all time: “The Wicker Man” (1973); “Poltergeist” (1982) and, Stanley Kubrick’s horror masterpiece, “The Shining” (1980). Maybe I’m just getting old, but in the days before CGI, film-makers really had to work to make their movies authentically scary. You couldn’t just put an actor in front of a green screen and ask them to emote terror against… Read more »
If you have ever tuned into to watch the “Mystery!” series on PBS, you are likely familiar with the art work of Edward Gorey. The distinctive pen and ink drawings in the introduction set the tone for the mystery to come. As well as being a prolific, award-winning artist, Gorey also published numerous illustrated (often wordless) books, generally with Victorian or Edwardian settings. He also won an award for best costume design at the 1977 Tony’s for his work on the Broadway production of… Read more »
“The boundaries which divide life and death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?” Edgar Allan Poe. I don’t know about you, but I do enjoy a spooky story. There is always that moment – breath held, heart pounding – before The Big Reveal; is it a ghost? Is it real? Are they already dead? Or was it just a dream..? (lame!) There are many excellent contemporary horror writers such… Read more »
