The Sublime and Superior Salem's Lot

As a vampire aficionado I have always enjoyed the 1979 miniseries Salem's Lot. But over the past several years I've grown to Love this series.

First off, before we really get into the meat and potatoes of this miniseries, we have to give props to Count Barlow. This Master vampire is the real deal. He is one of the coolest and eeriest vampires in television or film. Barlow's rat-like teeth, and like Nosferatu's Count Orlok's generations before him, strike an uneasiness down your spine. Recent rewatches of Salem's Lot I noticed just how scary the master really is. Watching this back in my younger days I sorta felt like Barlow was an imposter from the days of disco. Today however I think he completely instills fear in these characters and it's easy to see why. When we see the Master come through the kitchen window and kill the boy's parents, before his face-off with the shaman, the priest, Barlow's disgusting and horrific countenance are striking. The older I got the better this series got.

Vampire teeth, and their fangs, are an easy part of the film for producers to get wrong. Don't even get me started on Twilight... But the fangs here in the 'Lot look amazing. They have a perfect length, and a nice curve at the bottom inwards; they look designed by evolution to pierce the artery and allow unimpeded the fount of blood to flow into the throat. A nice shape and size all around, honestly. They look good. As does the fledgling vampires' deathly blue hue. Their hypnotic glowing yellow eyes also are stunning features of these vampires. Really, not bad at all for late 1970s TV fair. In the words of Ichabod Crane, "bravo, brava, bravi! to the makeup artists for getting it right.

Another character I really like is Straker, the Master's watchdog and resident ghoul. He is a soft-spoken British badass. He doesn't say much, but he really doesn't have to. He has these soft yet piercing eyes that can either frighten you silly or make you feel safe and at ease. One of his final scenes in the series sees him open a door and startle the dr. and father character. We feel that the two will talk about tea and crumpets, but instead the calm and cool Straker walks up to the dr., picks him up as easy as an adult scoops up an infant, and walks him toward his death. Quickly he thrusts the good dr. unto a wall filled with antlers, not very different from how Michael kills David in The Lost Boys.

The climax of this miniseries is a bit too short for my taste but feels very Hammer horror in its expediency to wrap up the story. With the sun quickly falling behind the horizon, Ben Mears makes like Van Helsing and stake's the Master's heart in his wicker basket coffin. After 37 smacks with the hammer, the Master is dead. Long live Barlow... There is no big fight between Mears and Barlow. And so the ending leaves a bit to be desired, honestly.

After a sequel and two remakes, the original Salem's Lot still holds up as the best adaptation of King's novel in my opinion.

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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