Western Wednesday:Music of the West

From out of the past come the thundering hoofbeats of the great horse, Silver…oh, sorry, my mistake, it was just the furnace knocking again. Anyway, welcome to Western Wednesday. Time to paint your wagon and stay away from stray sheep.

It struck me the other night when I was watching the vampire/western movie Bloodrayne (which I reviewed yesterday on Terror Tuesday), that the Western, in movies, radio and on TV, has been blessed with some of the best theme music ever written. Even in a relatively poor movie like Bloodrayne, the western-themed music was pretty good. And of course the use of the William Tell Overture in The Lone Ranger is truly inspired. While technically classical as opposed to specifically Western, it is one of the most instantly recognized and associated with a character pieces ever.

Many Western movies have unforgettable theme songs. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’s is classic. The Magnificent Seven theme was a pretty big hit even with non-Western fans. High Noon’s music is a staple in most Western singers’ repertories to this day.

Western TV shows have been similarly blessed, especially the plethora of horse operas in the 50s or 60s. Bonanza comes to mind. Did you know that actually had words? But, believe me, it’s way better without them. Rawhide was another with a nifty theme, as well as Lancer, Big Valley and Cheyenne. The Wild Wild West is one of my favorite Western show pieces ever. Even Colonial Westerns such as Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett had cool theme songs.

Most of the themes contain certain elements: driving beats, throbbing guitars with a haunting edge that evokes star-studded nights or soaring violins that bring to mind the open grandeur of the boundless West. Others are simple acoustic pieces that transport a listener back to another time, another world.

Whatever the case, these theme songs are enduring, timeless, sometimes out-classing the movie or show they were attached to. What are your favorite Western movie, radio show or TV theme songs?

Terror Tuesday: Afraid of the Holidays?

Sharpen your axes and polish those incisors, it’s time for another Terror Tuesday. We are finally past that holiday more terrifying than Halloween—yes, that’s right, Valentine’s Day. Shiver. Scary as it is, most wives and girlfriends don’t really appreciate getting bloody hearts all that much. Go figure.

Movie review this week: Bloodrayne 2: Deliverance. I gave this one a try because I had written my own vampire/western, The Dark Riders, which also dealt with a vampire Billy the Kid, and was curious to see what director Uwe Boll did with the cross-genre. Not sure quite what to think. It wasn’t totally awful. It wasn’t great, either. In this movie Billy the Kid somehow comes from Transylvania and has an accent. Pat Garret, the lawman who killed the real Billy the Kid, teams up with Rayne, a sexy half-human/half-vampire, and a couple of smarmy characters to bring down the outlaw vampire, who has taken over a town and kidnapped their children (and is using them as Lunchables). Natassia Malthe stars as Rayne in this direct to video fang-fest and makes a fairly hot cowgirl/vamp slayer, though probably the less she opens her mouth the better. Though she is Romanian, she has no accent, but a really nice tummy. Michael Pare as Pat Garrett was nearly unrecognizable, except for his voice. The movie is a bit slow, and the fight and gunfight scenes drawn out to the point of yawning sometimes. The actor who plays Billy, Zack Ward, is actually pretty creepy, but poor choreographing dilutes a lot of the impact of his scenes, and, in fact, the movie’s pace and effectiveness. It’s one of those movies where if you have nothing else to do and have seen all of the rentals you want to watch in the video store, you might as well give it a look. I’ve seen worse. Then again…I recommend reading my Dark Riders instead!

Speaking of holidays and horror, does it seem like most celebrations have a horror-themed movie to go with them? I mean, for Halloween, of course, we have a whole series, appropriately named, Halloween 1 through gazillion. Then there’s Trick ‘o Treat and myriad others with All Hallows Eve trappings. For Christmas we have the original scary story, A Christmas Carol, and don’t forget Silent Night, Deadly Night, and a host of Santa serial killers sliding down the chimney to hack and slash their way through Oh Holy Night.

Valentine’s Day? My Bloody Valentine. St. Paddy’s? Leprechaun 1 through whatever. But it struck me some holidays got left out (unless you out there can tell me of holiday specific films I should check out). Is there a New Years Day horror flick? Seems like there should be. And, no, Happy New Year, Charlie Brown doesn’t count, though if I hear “slow-slow, quick-quick” one more time I just might go on a murderous rampage.

And what about Arbor Day? Shouldn’t we have a killer trees seeking revenge movie? I think we should. Like the ones in Wizard of Oz gone postal. Call it How Do You Like Them Bloody Apples? Oh, and there definitely has to be one for Mother-in-Laws Day. Heh. Maybe one for Presidents Day where all the past dead leaders come back as zombies and eat congress. Yeah, that works for me.

What about Thanksgiving? Is there a Thanksgiving Day horror film? Revenge of the Decapitated Turkeys? The Gobblers? Maybe vampire Pilgrims? How about Easter? Easter Bunny Demons Strike Back? Or was that already covered in Night of the Lepus?

Am I missing any? What holidays do you think should have their own scare fare?

The Chloe Files: Kicking Evil’s ass one demon at a time…
In the tradition of Sookie Stackhouse and Buffy, The Vampire Slayer…
In paperback from http://www.bn.com/

Horror and The Spider

The Spider. The Master of Men. Driven by the burning duty to wipe crime off the face of the Earth, often teetering on the edge of psychosis, riddled with paranoia and a Messianic complex. A man split between a life of luxury and his quest to obliterate evil. And one of the most violent and unique characters ever created for the pulp fiction world of the 1930s and 40s.

The Spider, aka millionaire man-about-town Richard Wentworth, blasted his way through over a hundred novels in the decade of the Great Depression, delivering sudden brutal justice to the guilty, sometimes nearly whacking a friend or two in the process. When he was in guise, he donned a fright wig, fangs, domino mask, slouch hat and flowing cape, creating for himself an image designed to strike terror into the hearts of the Underworld. While criminals generally knew other contemporary heroes such as Doc Savage and The Avenger were not going to kill them, they had no such reservations with The Spider. They knew their ticket was punched if they stumbled across his path (yet, month after month some crime lord did, indeed, issue challenge to the Master of Men, as he was dubbed. Criminals were not an entirely bright bunch back then, apparently.)

The Spider was aided by a faithful (Sikh or Hindu, depending on the story) manservant named Ram Singh, Jackson, a former war buddy, and the lovely violet-eyed Nita van Sloan, who forever resigned herself to the fact the man she loved was already married to his frightening persona and would never be wed to her. It was a tough life, being the fiancé of a semi-psychotic crime-fighter.

The series appeared under the house name Grant Stockbridge, but was written by a number of writers, primarily author Norvell Page, whose prose often blistered with white-hot pace and intensity, though it eschewed plot detail and, often, lucidity. In the bloody pages of The Spider thousands met with grisly death and The Spider himself suffered being riddled with bullets, countless stab wounds, and was driven through with swords or various other implements. And he wasn’t alone. Nita got it too, right down to one very unpleasant episode with a randy ape. Another aide died. But it’s ok, because he mysteriously came back to life the next issue!

The Spider, though an action pulp hero character, was no stranger to horror. Stories included grotesque shambling figures and human flesh eaters, monstrous apes and various twisted masterminds. The precedent was set, cast in pulpwood.

So recently when I got the chance to write original Spider stories, focusing on classic horror aspects felt like a perfect fit. The first appeared in the short story anthology The Spider Chronicles and concerned a voodoo queen. But just this past week my original Spider story, The Strange Case of The Spider and Mr. Hyde, appeared in widescreen comic book format.

For those unfamiliar with widescreen comics, they are short story prose weaved around double-paged paintings or drawn artwork. For this particular book, number 3 in The Spider: Judgment Knight series, it was noir black and white paintings by artist extraordinaire Cortney Skinner, topped off by an incredible full-color cover painting by the incomparable Gary Carbon (who did the fine painting work for my Spider graphic novel adaptation, The Spider: Judgment Knight based on the novel The Devil’s Paymaster and will be illustrating a special 2011 September 11 Anniversary Spider tale I’ve adapted). There is also a variation cover based on the same painting.

I was attracted to pitting the Spider against Mr. Hyde for a number of reasons. Both are split men, driven by base compulsions, though in different directions. Both are insane in their own way. Both are…monsters. That dichotomy, the duality of personality, was fascinating to explore in an action-oriented venue. There is a Mr. Hyde in all of us. We all have that darkness we struggle to keep under control, the monster clawing to get out. We all fall short at times, give in to the lure of darkness. We all let the spider crawl free. But it is how we handle those lapses, how we direct it or choose to overcome. Mr. Hyde makes the choice—or perhaps it is made for him by his own weakness—to turn it towards ill. The Spider directs it towards saving innocent lives.

The Spider is a fun character to write. Fun to let loose with. He gives you a license for gratuitousness and all-out escape. And walking the mist-shrouded streets and skulking through abandoned theaters with Mr. Hyde only makes it more enjoyable.

So what happens when these two men/monsters clash? I guess you’ll have to pick up a copy of the comic book to find out!

The Spider Judgment Knight #3 is a Moonstone Books production (www.moonstonebooks.com) and is available through comic specialty shops everywhere.

Western Wednesday: The Young Riders

One of my favorite western series hit the air in 1989 and ran for three seasons. It concerned the fictionalized accounts of the Pony Express and was called The Young Riders (1989-92). There weren’t many westerns on the airways in the 80s and 90s, but along with The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., this one was one of the best. It joined a number of bigger-than-life authentic western figures such as Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill Cody with characters cut from whole cloth, and besides the usual quota of western action, gunfights, Indians and so forth, it focused on the relationships between those characters and other folks who came into their lives, and did it well. Sometimes the characters even got killed when you least expected it.

The show starred Stephen Baldwin (younger brother of Alec) as Cody, Josh Brolin as Hikock and character actor Anthony Zerbe as the irrepressible Teaspoon Hunter. It was created by Ed Spielman and took place in Nebraska in the days leading up to the Civil War.

The pilot was shot in California but once ABC picked up the series it moved to Arizona (which looks a whole lot like Nebraska, right?) and the series broke new ground as Don Franklin became the first black actor to hold a starring role in a TV western, portraying a black cowboy, instead of a slave. It also included a young woman who, in the show, passed herself off as a male to ride with the Pony Express, presenting some pretty humorous comic relief moments, especially during a skinny dipping scene in an early episode.

Cinematography and location shooting gave the show more of a movie feeling than TV series, and while the ratings were somewhat dismal in the first season (it picked up in the second, winning its timeslot, but still hovered the 50s), the show quickly garnered a small but loyal following. It wound up compared to the awful Young Guns but was far better. A particularly touching episode found Teaspoon falling in love with a French piano teacher, who turned out to be a thief.

The Young Riders didn’t last a long time, though longer than CBS’s Magnificent Seven offering, but as I was just starting out writing westerns at the time, it inspired me to go beyond the superficial trappings of the genre and delve more into the people who lived in the Old West. The first season is available on DVD. With Josh Brolin as the lead in the soon to be released western, Jonah Hex, now would be a great time to give it a try.

Terror Tuesday: Horror Reviews

“Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.”

So opens the Universal remake of The Wolfman (which took in about $36 million over opening weekend domestic and $57 mil worldwide.), with the classic quote from the original Wolfman movie.

As I have stated before, the original Wolfman is my all-time favorite horror movie, and the werewolf my favorite monster. I won’t attempt to draw too much of a comparison between this film and the classic Chaney, Jr. movie, because a classic is a classic for a reason and to hold a new movie up to its standards probably isn’t fair to either.

That said, I went in not expecting much, but hoping for at least something that would rise above the beleaguered horror movie scene we have nowadays. And I think in that sense I got what I paid for.

The film opens with the brutal slaying of Ben Talbot by a creature in the misty woods, then shifts to Lawrence Talbot, Shakespearian actor, who, upon the death of his brother, returns home to Talbot Manor. He is greeted by his brother’s fiancé, Gwen, and his aloof and eccentric father, Sir John. The town is in an uproar over recent brutal killings and either blame a maniac or a dancing bear owned by gypsies.

After a visit to the gypsies, whose camp is attacked by a wolf creature, while attempting to rescue a gypsy boy, Lawrence is mauled by the beast and nearly dies. He is saved by an old gypsy woman and recovers extraordinarily fast. If you have seen the original the plot is fairly predictable from there. When the moon rises, Talbot turns into a wolfman and ravages the countryside. He is captured pretty fast, thought to be simply a delusional maniac, and confined to an institution. As you can guess, they don’t hold onto him very long, because when the next full moon rises, Larry goes on a tear. Literally.

The performances vary. The luscious Emily Blunt is perfect as Gwen. Benicio del Toro as Larry Talbot is effective, though at times seems a little distant and not as tragic a figure as Chaney, Jr. put across in the original (not comparing the movies, but the actors’ performances based on their respective material). Anthony Hopkins as Sir John seems a long way off his manic performance in Magic, at times almost phoning in his role.

There is far more gore than the original. Intestines and heads fly everywhere. The rooftop chase scene could have been spectacular but the poor CGI took me out of it very quickly. However, the wolf-change CGI was excellent. The modern, nearly obligatory lobo a lobo skirmish at the end seemed a bit on the silly side and at times the story got a little lost and jerked about.

Some great mood, scenery and gothic settings and the introduction of Inspector Aberline (the real Aberline, you may remember, worked on the Ripper case) was a nice touch. Rick Baker’s Wolfman makeup was excellent and for those of us tired of CGI-generated long-snouted werewolves a welcome change.

This film is better than most critics give it credit for and worth seeing and judging for oneself. It winds up caught with one foot in the old classic style and the other foot in the teen-gore horror garbage of today. It is an “almost”. I had the feeling it could have been a modern classic if only they’d worked a bit harder for it. As it is, it is still enjoyable and better than much of the other horror offerings over the past few years (supernatural horror). I would give it a 3 ½ out of 5.

“Grave Surprise” is a Harper Connelly paranormal mystery by Charlaine Harris, writer of the Sookie Stackhouse novels. And it’s a good one. Far better than the Poppy cozy series, it concerns a woman named Harper Connelly who, after being struck by lightning, develops the ability to “read” bones and determine cause of death. In this book, she is called in by a skeptical college professor to read corpses in a cemetery. Since he is the only one with the information on who is buried in St. Margaret’s boneyard, he feels certain he’ll expose her as a fraud. She soon proves him embarrassingly wrong, and in the process stumbles over the body of a child who disappeared a couple years previous.
This book holds your attention from beginning to end, and is an easy read. There is a kind of creepy undertone in the relationship between Harper and her non-related “brother” throughout the novel, but I would recommend this series even above the Stackhouse books.

The Chloe Files: Kicking Evil’s ass one demon at a time…
In the tradition of Sookie Stackhouse and Buffy, The Vampire Slayer…
In paperback from http://www.bn.com/

Saturday Morning Shazam!

Last week I focused on the second half-hour of the live-action Saturday morning Shazam/Isis hour, so this week I’ll take a look at the first half-hour.

Shazam was based on the 1940s Fawcett superhero, Captain Marvel. With one magic word—Shazam!—teenager Billy Batson transformed into the World’s Mightiest Mortal. Granted these powers by a powerful wizard, he was blessed with the strength, wisdom, speed and various other powers of the mythical gods. He was the comic book company’s answer to Superman and came with a cast of villains that included Dr, Sivana, Black Adam and Mister Mind, and was accompanied by sister Mary Marvel and crippled newsboy Freddy Freeman, who turned into Capt Marvel Jr., and of course the Marvel Bunny! The early Shazam was goofy fun and was later revived in the 70s by DC Comics.

The show ran from 1974-77 and was another Filmation entry. It differed from its source material in a number of ways. There were no super villains and each episode came with a little moral aimed at the kiddies. Teenager Billy spoke directly to some mythical cartoon “Elders” and traveled around with a mentor (Les Tremayne) in a Winnebago. Mary and Freddy did not appear.

Billy Batson, who did manage to retain his red shirt from the comic, was played by Michael Gray and Captain Marvel was played in the first season by Jackson Bostwick and in later episodes by John Davey. Davey reprised the role in three episode crossovers with Isis. Violence was downplayed, mostly limited to feats of strength.

The show’s opening narration told kids all they needed to know: “Chosen from among all others by the Immortal Elders — Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, Mercury — Billy Batson and his mentor travel the highways and byways of the land on a never-ending mission: to right wrongs, to develop understanding and to seek justice for all! In time of dire need, young Billy has been granted the power by the Immortals to summon awesome forces at the utterance of a single word: SHAZAM! A word which transforms him in a flash into the mightiest of mortal beings—Captain Marvel!”

For me, as a kid in the 70s, this series was quite a thrill. I was reading the Shazam comic books and very fond of the George Reeves Superman live action show, as well as the Adam West Batman. The variations from the book didn’t bother me and I parked my butt in front of the tube every Saturday morning—and occasionally yelled Shazam!. Of course, I never turned into the World’s Mightiest Anything, but did annoy my parents and neighbors, so it wasn’t a total loss.

Only an episode or three has been released on DVD (one in the Isis set and another in Season 3 of the Linda Carter Wonder Woman series), and it’s too bad. It’s a nice show for kids, though it will likely come across as pretty hokey to today’s youth. For those of us who still have a kid playing superhero inside them, we can suspend disbelief and just enjoy the innocence of a brighter past morning.

The Chloe Files: Kicking Evil’s ass one demon at a time…
In the tradition of Sookie Stackhouse and Buffy, The Vampire Slayer…
In paperback from http://www.bn.com/

Western Wednesday: The Masked Rider of the Plains…

It’s Western Wednesday—Johnny, get away from those sheep—I mean it! Er, um, sorry about that…kids…anyway, time to saddle up and crank up the strains of the William Tell Overture!

I have to admit, before I started writing westerns, I was not a huge fan of the genre per se. My tastes ran more to superhero and Star Trek. I watched the Wild Wild West as a kid, along with scattered episodes of Gunsmoke—though I never really got into that one—Lancer, Big Valley and that was probably about it. I think Wild Wild West attracted me more for the cross-genre appeal, as later did The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.

After I started writing for Robert Hale’s Black Horse Western line I became a much bigger fan, started reading and watching the genre a whole lot more. I devoured handfuls of Louis L’Amour, Matt Braun and Richard Wheeler, as well as others. I got addicted to The Young Riders on TV and the Magnificent Seven series.

Despite the lack of western love in my youth (I sure hope I am making up for it now after turning in my 32st Lance Howard Black Horse, The Killing Kind, recently), one western was always a constant for me. It was my first exposure to the genre and to this day I can still list it as my favorite.

I’m talking about that Masked Rider of the Plains and his faithful Indian companion—The Lone Ranger and Tonto. As a kid I listened to rebroadcasts of the radio show, watched the reruns of Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels as they galloped across the plains each Saturday on a local TV station, and read the Big Little Books, comics or whatever else I could find that featured that western icon

I still listen to CD sets of the show (for info on them check out http://www.radiospirits.com/), watch the old Moore show on DVD and read Dynamite’s latest and most excellent comic book incarnation of the Masked Man. A new movie is in the works and Johnny Depp has agreed to play Tonto.

The Lone Ranger embodied everything I loved about the western—even when I didn’t love them. The hero who had survived the worst man and the elements could offer, only to come back stronger than before, the humanity of the stories, the grandeur of the terrain. Although the Lone Ranger was bigger than life he was never too big. He never forgot his humanity and stuck up for the little guy, the wrongly accused. And he saw men as men, not red, black or white. Along with The Green Hornet (who, incidentally, was The Ranger’s great nephew) he eschewed prejudice during a time it ran rampant in the world (the 1930s in which The Lone Ranger was written and the late 1800s where his stories were placed).

The Lone Ranger, I feel, isn’t given the credit he’s due, not only for influencing a certain style of western, but of story. He had a sidekick before Batman and a set of unshakable morals before Superman.

It’s getting tough these days to find stories like that. Perhaps some purists will claim this was the West that never was, and I reckon they’d even be right. But instead I look towards them as the West that might have been, had a man like The Lone Ranger truly ridden the plains on a great white horse. In the final tally, The Ranger wasn’t meant to be accurate, only entertaining, inspiring and in that he succeeded beyond a boy’s wildest dreams.

Hi yo, Silver—away!

(Updated from the Tainted Archive.)

Terror Tuesday: Lightning Strikes Again

It’s Terror Tuesday…sharpen your axes and stay out of the shower…unless you are a hot naughty girl, then you're toast anyway...

Screened this weekend: The Phantom of The Opera (1943). From Universal, this is the Claude Raines/Nelson Eddy version and it’s a pretty lavish production and well worth the 10-buck DVD price. This Phantom is a virtuoso violinist whose hands are becoming crippled with arthritis and can no longer perform. He is secretly supporting Christine’s vocal lessons and through a misunderstanding murders a man he thinks is stealing the symphony he’s written. Raines refused to be buried under too much grotesque make-up so this Phantom does not have quite the scare factor of Lon Chaney or Herbert Lom’s portrayal, but he brings a sensitivity to the role that shows why he was one of the masters. The chandelier scene is stand out and though I still prefer the Hammer version this is an excellent film, if a bit heavy on the opera pieces. Lead soprano Suzanna Foster can shatter glass with her high note, however. There is a fascinating Phantom retrospective bonus on the disc as well.

There’s an old adage that goes, Lightning never strikes twice in the same place. This is obviously a pretty silly claim, since whatever attracted that lightning would probably do so again and again. Unless of course it’s a direct hit on a person, then, since it usually fries you, you don’t get a second chance eat being struck. But the Empire State Building is hit thousands of times per year.

But what about those people who are struck by lightning and live, who then claim to have certain psychic abilities? In fact, whole fiction books are based on this, including the Harper Connelly books by True Blood author Charlaine Harris (though in these books the lead can sense the cause of death from bones or corpses).

Some who have been struck by lightning claim to have visions of the future, precognitive dreams and a host of other psychic abilities. Some claim to have been healed of ailments, or have been blessed with the power to heal others. One person claims it made him unable to get enough sex (perhaps we should ask Tiger Woods about that, since there is an old myth about being struck while on the golf course…)

Getting clipped by lightning hasn’t always come with claims of supernatural abilities. Once upon a time anyone who got zapped was considered on the outs with God. If God was annoyed with certain people—ker-pow! If you lived through it, you sinned no more and were given a free afro. Lightning was also interpreted as omens, good or bad, depending on which direction it came from. From the East was generally good news. I guess that makes sense since that means the storm is passing. From the West, the storm is approaching.

Whatever the claims, being jolted with that much voltage is never a good thing. It does not turn you into The Flash, no matter what DC Comics tells you. But what does it do? The body functions on electrical impulses; the brain is a dynamo of electrical activity. We don’t use shock therapy anymore—well, at least not the way it was used a few decades ago—but everyone knows what happens with a surge goes through a computer or even a light bulb. Bulb gets bright, then burns out. Now if that much extra bah-zing flashes through a human nervous system…who knows what might happen?

The brain is a mysterious and complicated organ. Perhaps there are areas of it a jolt of electricity can activate. Science has not verified psychic claims to begin with, let alone from lightning strikes. However, I would not recommend running around in foil hats during thunder storms to try to find out.

The Chloe Files: Kicking Evil’s ass one demon at a time…
In the tradition of Sookie Stackhouse and Buffy, The Vampire Slayer…
In paperback from http://www.bn.com/

Oh, Mighty Isis!

Saturday morning TV was a big deal for us superhero and spooky fans when I was growing up in the late 60s/early 70s. I couldn’t wait to scramble out of bed (boy, has THAT changed) to watch Scooby Doo, the Marvel Comics characters (despite horrible animation), Underdog, Batman and others I mentioned I my pervious blog on Saturday morning spooks.

But in the mid 70s there were even a few live-action attempts to hit the small screen; namely, the Shazam/Isis hour. I’ll save Shazam for another blog and focus on the second half hour, Isis or The Secrets of Isis.

The Secrets of Isis starred actress JoAnna Cameron (who was rumored to have slept her way into the part, but we won’t hold that against her) as teacher Andrea Thomas, who whenever danger threatened uttered the magical words “Oh, Mighty Isis!” and instantly transformed into a mini-skirt-wearing goddess from ancient Egypt. Now, as a kid I thought she was just magically delicious…well, actually she’s still pretty hot in a superhero porn star kind of way.

She was a female counter to Captain Marvel (Shazam), who guest starred in a couple episodes. She had superhuman strength and uttered incantations to perform various feats. “Oh zephyr winds which blow on high, lift me now so I can fly!” enabled her to take to the air, and somehow keep that mini skirt from turning a G-rated kids’ show into something a lot more racy. The opening started with the words: “’O my Queen,’ said the Royal Sorcerer to Hatshepsut, ‘with this amulet, you and your descendants are endowed by the Goddess Isis with the powers of the animals and the elements. You will soar as the falcon soars, run with the speed of gazelles, and command the elements of sky and earth.’” Among her abilities was telepathy with a raven named Tut.

Each episode contained a moral theme and most of them were actually pretty good, even still enjoyable as an adult (the series is available on DVD, a very nice set, and recommended). It ran from 1975-77 for a total of 22 episodes. It was a Filmation original show/character, despite running in DC comics for a time.

The show sometimes dealt with serious issues for kids, like the death of a pet and while hokey at times was a lot of fun. It had an innocence lost in much of today’s Saturday morning offerings. It also offered the first lead female hero/role model who wasn’t afraid to be smart, sexy and confident (pre-dating both the Bionic Woman and Wonder Woman leads).

The Chloe Files: Kicking Evil’s ass one demon at a time…
In the tradition of Sookie Stackhouse and Buffy, The Vampire Slayer…
In paperback from http://www.bn.com/

Got Cougar?

Does age matter in love anymore?

Once upon a time men were expected to date/marry a woman right about the same age, or perhaps slightly younger. If he found someone say 20 years his junior, well, he was a dirty old man. And the woman was either a gold-digger or had daddy issues, or was robbing the cradle.

But times they are a-changin’. Women generally live longer than men and seek careers, so it is not as uncommon as it once was to see an older woman with a younger guy. She is not labeled a dirty old woman. No, she’s a cougar. Rowl. There’s something sexy sounding about that. Cougar. Hmm, does that make the guy a cub?

And what do we term the guys who are with younger woman now? Tigers? Oh, wait, that refers to golfers with multiple mistresses. Maybe guys are panthers. Lions? Daddy-o’s? Lucky?

But, really, should age—or for that matter anything else—matter in matters of the heart? Is it more important that the intangible bond between two people be there than any societal restrictions on age, class, race, creed, political persuasion or gender?

Of course, with large age differences there will be obstacles, things to prepare for such as the snotty condescension or disapproval or peers, or popular culture gaps. But do those really matter if respect, trust and above all that indefinable connection we call “soulmate” exists between two people? And what age difference is too much? Twenty years? Thirty? A hundred if you are a vampire? Come to think of it, there is mummy I think is pretty hot. Well, except for that lack of tongue thing.

What do you think? Does age matter?

The Chloe Files: Kicking Evil’s ass one demon at a time…
In the tradition of Sookie Stackhouse and Buffy, The Vampire Slayer…
In paperback from www.bn.com

Western Wednesday: Black Horse Weekend

Hop in the saddle, ride a bargal…er, wait, hop a bargirl, ride a saddle…no, that’s not quite right…hmmm, anyway, it’s Western Wednesday again so get your gallop on!

First a bit of news. Writer Ron Fortier informed me today my AVENGER short story for The Avenger Chronicles, “The Heart of the Crucible”, has been nominated in the finals of the Pulp Factory Awards, to be given out at the Windy City Pulp and Paperback Convention in Chicago this year. I am honored, since The Avenger is a favorite of mine and the story was a labor of love. Does anybody know where I can get a Lady Gaga flaming bra just into case I win?

As I mentioned last week, this past weekend was Black Horse Weekend over on Gary Dobbs’ Tainted Archive blog (http://tainted-archive.blogspot.com/) and it appears to have been a resounding success. 103+ posts in three days, and a wealth of info on the Black Horse Western, as well as periphery. I had the honor of contributing two new guest posts, but for those of you who missed them I am reprinting them here for Western Wednesday. Gary Dobbs is the interviewer and it centers around my starting of the Black Horse Western yahoogroups, as well as other writing. Anyone interested in joining the Black Horse Western Goup can do so on my western page (www.howardhopkins.com/western-books.htm )…

1 - You started the Black Horse Western Group back in 2002, what was your thinking behind this?

A friend suggested to me there should be a group for these books and I thought it was a good idea. Not only to raise awareness for my own Lance Howard novels but for the entire line. I also wanted a place where writers and readers of the books could come together, as well as a supportive family-type, encouraging atmosphere for those writing them, at the time, virtually in seclusion.

2- Of course the group contains a fair number of BH authors but an equal amount of readers What can people get out of joining the group?

Camaraderie, encouragement, support, honest critique, research answers from experts, guidance for new writers, and a chance to discuss favorite Western books (and, in fact, all things Western). As well, updates on favorite books, authors and projects. One of the biggest group projects, aside from The Black Horse Express, our online Western magazine (http://www.blackhorsewesterns.org/), is the recent inauguration of Express Westerns and its critically acclaimed short story anthologies, Where Legends Ride and A Fistful of Legends. Not only has this showcased some of Black Horse Westerns’ finest writers, but it has also provided an opportunity for first-time talents to shine.

3- Personally I've found the group great whenever I need any Old West information. You send out questions and the answers come zinging in. Have you ever looked everywhere for some snippet of information and then found someone on the group knows the answer?

Oh, yes! It’s one of the group’s greatest strengths. I have spent countless hours researching something only to come up empty. A post to the group has then brought me the answer within a very short period. We have some folks on the group who are nearly living encyclopedias when it comes to Old West details.

4-What do you think it is about the Black Horse westerns that attract such a loyal following?

First and foremost, the talent pool, the story-tellers. The books are gorgeous little hardcovers with eye-catching covers, but in order for a line to survive it must provide what the readers want from writers who can tell a story. The books cover an incredible range of Western, too, from traditional to genre-stretching tales, plenty of action, leap-off-the-page characters and a look at our own modern world through the open eyes of history.

5-Your own writing - tell us a little about your non western stuff.

My writing under my own Howard Hopkins name covers a wide range, from horror to pulp adventure to comic books. I write a supernatural mystery series called The Chloe Files for adults and a series for children 8+ called The Nightmare Club (http://www.howardhopkins.com/). Lately I have had the opportunity to develop an obscure pulp character called The Golden Amazon for comic and wide-screen books, as well as writing short stories for anthologies including The Green Hornet, Sherlock Holmes, The Spider (also Spider tales for comic book and graphic novels), Captain Midnight and The Avenger. I co-edited The Avenger Chronicles and will be resuming that job shortly for two more Avenger volumes.

6-And what's your next western going to be about?

About 40,000 words! I have two percolating, basically just titles and germs right now, but fitting them in between my comic book and antho work is going to be the problem. I have two coming soon from Black Horse titled Dead Man Riding and The Killing Kind.

GUEST BLOG:

Black Horse Westerns. Many folks here in the USA, even long-time Western readers, do not know what they are, but that’s changing, and I think 2010 will be the year they burst onto the trail. 2009 saw a great expansion in the awareness of these rugged little hardcovers with their shiny, action-packed covers. Much of that came from the efforts of dedicated folks on the Black Horse Western group with their Author Days initiative, their Black Horse Express online magazine (http://www.blackhorsewesterns.org/) and writer Ian Parham’s Black Horse Blog, as well as a new Express Westerns line of anthologies. A plethora of blogs, including the one you are reading, my own Dark Bits with its Western Wednesdays (http://howardhopkins.blogspot.com/) and others have gone viral. Black Horse writer Chap O’Keefe’s Black Horse Extra (http://www.blackhorsewesterns.com/) and new imprint of Misfit Lil books, Robert Hale’s own snazzy new webpage (http://www.halebooks.com/) and newsletter have also forged the trail.

Word is getting out and perhaps riding point in that effort is the man who conceived this Black Horse Weekend, Gary Dobbs. Consummate actor and author, he began his Black Horse writing with a novel that became perhaps the catalyst of growth within the line, igniting more sales than any other BHW before and initiating reprints on select titles. I want to say a personal thank you to Gary, not only for giving me the opportunity to participate in this weekend, but for his enthusiasm and grab-the-bull-by-the-balls attitude.

Which is why I think 2010 will be the year of the Black Horse Western. It’s starting off with a bang and can only get bigger. Express Westerns, on this very weekend, is releasing its second western short story anthology, A Fistful of Legends, which includes some of the cream of the Black Horse crop as well as a couple of talented newcomers, a book slated to compete in the prestigious Western Writers of America Spur awards. Readers will be able to sample 21 writers for the line and see for themselves just how wide a range of talent Black Horse has to offer. Amazon US is now carrying new Black Horse Westerns (but get ‘em fast!), making them easier access for US fans (as well as less expensive).

The future, even in economic downturn, looks bright for these “little horse operas that could”. The Western is far from dead. It is riding strong and will burst into a gallop. And this weekend is its “Hi Yo, Silver!”

Terror Tuesday: Terror Toons

It’s time again for Terror Tuesday on Dark Bits…remember to nail down those heater vents, because you never know what’s going to crawl out of them. I have it on good authority a human body can indeed be dragged through one, though not always in one piece…

Couple things first: I have been revamping my website at http://www.howadhopkins.com/ so I hope y’all will go take a look. New background and color scheme, mostly. Got a minor thing or two I am fighting with, but overall it’s where I want it for the time being.

Movie Review: Beneath Loch Ness. Starring Lysette Anthony (with a really bad haircut), this is your fairly typical B movie something-is-disturbed-beneath Loch Ness-and-has-an-attitude tale. But overall it’s not bad and worth a watch if you like Nessie stories. Ending is a bit anti-climatic, but not a bad rental for monster night.

The remake of The Wolfman is due out in a couple weeks. I am looking forward to it with both excitement and trepidation because it is my favorite old time horror movie and remakes don’t always come out well. And since they are releasing it in the February dead zone time for movies, I am not overly optimistic. The trailers do look good, though, so maybe we’ll get lucky.

I’ve always had an interest in spooky stuff, probably starting with Dark Shadows and even Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea back in the mid-60s when I was very young (I would like to claim I was watching from the womb but I don’t think it will fly). But I also had a thing for the spooky cartoons, so maybe it began a little before that.

Of course first came Casper. I had some of the Casper, Hot Stuff and Wendy comic books and watched the Saturday morning cartoons (incidentally there is a revamped Casper comic book out right now that is pretty good, for those of you who want something fun and spooky for your kids, or, if you are like me, looking to recapture a few minutes of your childhood). I related to Casper, because he was always trying to fit in and lots of kids my age felt the same, like they were unseen ghosts at times. Friendless. Boo hoo. I didn’t read so much into it then, however; it was only spooky fun.

Does anybody remember Frankenstein, Jr. and The Impossibles? This Hanna-Barbera entry began in 1966 and featured a sort of big robotic Frank, who was more hero than monster. I had the Big Little Book, too (for those who don’t know what Big Little books were they were prose and artwork in thick little books about 3 by 3 inches and lots of fun. They went from the 30s through at least the 60s (probably longer…do they still make them?) and I had Batman, Matt Mason, Lone Ranger, Fantastic Four and many others. Still have a few of them. Anyway, Frank ran for two seasons before complaints of being too violent for kids shut it down (yet it was tamer than Road Runner, so go figure).

Then there was The Groovie Ghoulies, which ran from 1970-72 and featured all the traditional monsters—Mummy, Dracula, Frankenstein and Wolfman—as hep Munsters in a rock band. Some catchy songs. Produced by Filmation, it was a bit like a monstered-up Josie and the Pussycats.

Of course, the granddady of them all and my favorite at the time was Scooby Doo, a cartoon that has endured to this day and is still going strong. I was riveted to it each Saturday morning. Writer/singer Austin Roberts and his band sang the unforgettable theme song and weekly numbers and each week Scooby and the gang exposed a monster to be just a trick of some nefarious villain who’d “have gotten away with it if not for those meddlesome kids!” I liked the Wolfman and Mummy episodes, and Scooby meets Batman (had a soft spot for Scooby meets Laurel and Hardy, too).

I’m sure there are others that are slipping my memory at the moment, but those are some that have stuck with me and shaped/corrupted (depending on who you ask) my taste as a kid. I do recollect a Disney cartoon version of Legend of Sleepy Hollow I liked, as well.

What about you? Are there any spooky cartoons you grew up on that jump-started your interest in spooky material, or ignited your imagination?

The Chloe Files: Kicking Evil’s ass one demon at a time…
In the tradition of Sookie Stackhouse and Buffy, The Vampire Slayer…
In paperback from http://www.bn.com/.