Terrortory and a Little Halloween Pumpkin Man

I found this cool lil Halloween Pumkin man on Etsy months ago and forgot he was in the closet. He's made himself at home here, and honestly, he scared T, and she doesn't want him running around the house. So, he's stuck in my office for the time being. I don't know that I'll be able to keep him cooped up during Halloweentober, however.

Really, it's not his fault, it's mine. I had her watch Terrortory with me, a local Maryland horror anthology, and Smiling Jack freaked her the hell out... Smiling Jack could be this guy's dad, the resemblance is uncanny. Smiling Jack is a dark, mirrored pumpkin pail candy bucket-headed supernatural killer in the woods.

Terrortory is a film set in a Bermuda-Triangle-like land of horrors in Western Maryland where monsters of all kinds will kill you, if you don't follow the rules. The rules become evident throughout the two films, while the sequel's plot is outright dependent on it. I found Terrortory I and II on Tubi (God bless Tubi, really) last year but didn't watch them, only added it to my list.

Then, a few weeks ago, I scrolled by it and a name was listed with whom I'm familiar. It turns out a friend from way back was a writer and director of the first film and producer of the sequel! I phoned him up and we got together. He gave me a copy of the DVD which I'm super grateful for. These films are fun horror anthologies, but I fell in love with Terrortory when I realized Dan Doran had helped put these together. That these films are local products is just the Reddi Whip on top.

Terrortory II is much more slick with less of the mistakes of the first film, both in terms of storytelling and production. The ending of the film is creepy AF and I sat there, surprised and smiling with the climax. The lore is expanded upon in the sequel, and it works really well.

The ending of TII is really FN cool. Spoilers: It is really dark and interesting, with the coven of the supernatural killers kneeling before a dark god of the Terrortory. The dark god (I don't know if he has a name) has a family hostage and provides the husband with a choice to either save his daughter or his wife. After some reluctance the husband's indecision bites him in the ass and the dark god makes the choice for him and reduces his wife to ... well watch it for yourself because it's too cool to spoil. It's dark and surprised me with how hard it went. It also described more of a certain character's part in the story.

Halloween night he will be out giving candy to trick-or-treaters. That is his day, what he was born for. You can find your own Halloween Pumpkin Man here and let him do all the work this Halloween so you can stay in and watch horror movies or bob for apples all night long.... Watch Terrortory 1 and 2, I think they are worthy Halloween flicks.

Marketing

Is it ever too early to market your book? This question is retroactive to pre-publishing, too. I know very little about marketing. In fact, I guess I know nothing at all. My plan has always been, from the beginning, to get my story out there . To have people read it - that's the point to all of this. That's why this blog exists. And yet now I find myself searching for new, constructive ways to market this book. So far, I've been searching for an artist for the cover. I have it completely planned out, but I could screw up a stick figure, so I'll leave this to the pros. I'm wondering if it's too soon to design a website. Would a website even work for an unpublished work? I don't know. These are things I am looking into to help market my first novel. I've never had much use for an ego, but is self-promotion really egotistical? Or will it only hasten my prospect for publishing? Hmm.

BEING ELTON ALWINE

This is something that I've not give much thought about, and I'm not one to self-diagnose, but I have to find out if I have an anxiety disorder. All the symptoms are there: sweating, shortness of breath, headaches, etc. The list goes on. It's hard to concentrate, and I'm sick of excuses for why I'm not writing. It's certainly not lack of love or passion. And I am just a bit too affected on Sundays. The Baltimore Ravens are one of my loves in life, but this football team should in no way affect my attitudes and moods after game day . This, to me, is completely unacceptable. As of late, I've also developed an unnatural fear of death. I have witnessed this transformation seemingly outside of myself. I've never actually been the "worry wart" type, and I'm far from letting this behavior continue. Depression, Anxiety - these are words that I have always abhorred ; figments of the Pharmaceutical Industry's Utopian dream. Quite a bit of this d...

As of Today...

Nothing is certainly new. My fingers are still crossed, regarding Marvel. I really think I put together an ambitious letter inquiry for them. Now, if I could just get them to want to see my writing... If not, I will do my best to overwhelm their mail department with inquiry letters for the next few weeks. Eventually, someone's going to write back. I still haven't touched UNIQUE . This has to be a good thing. This is the longest I have gone without opening up the story and fixing something. The movie script project has been without attention lately, too. How unfortunate is the only thing I can think of. For thirty pages I was bursting with energy and creativity. I think I really got caught up in the BLADE script, and that settled me down for a few weeks. I need to get the enthusiasm back! And then there's school. Astronomy is the only class that can retain my interest for an hour and a half. But it's good to have the history lessons refreshed in my mind. It's good t...

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