The True North Strong and Free

Notice from Canada Post

In light of recent events in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, those who have stereotypical views of this country might be forgiven. Although it's not quite the wilderness that some tourists envision, there is the odd episode that reminds Canadians they are indeed sharing the country with various wildlife.
 
 Recently, a bear was roaming a Vancouver neighborhood, causing a delay in mail delivery. The postman left a notice in a communal mailbox explaining that he had not delivered a parcel  because there was a "bear at door".


The postman also took a picture of the bear.

The Bear at the Door

Canada Post is said to be investigating the incident.

Recommended Halloween Reading

The Telegraph is already getting into the spirit of October with its list of  fifteen scary books to terrify you this Halloween.

The masters of horror are cited, including Bram Stoker and Edgar Allan Poe.

Also included are two of the best psychological horror stories, Henry James's The Turn of the Screw and Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House.

There is a nod to various contemporary horror writers with the inclusion of Stephen King's Pet Sematary and Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box. Peter Straub's Ghost Story also makes the list, as does British writer Susan Hill's The Woman in Black. (You may have seen the film version with Daniel Radcliffe.)

To view the full list and see how it compares with your own list of all-time favorites, please click here.

Vampires Revisited

If you're a fan of Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles, you'll be pleased to know that her eleventh novel in the series, Prince Lestat, will be released on October 28, 2014. It's been eleven years since the last Chronicles novel, so the new book is creating lots of buzz. It is a sequel to the first five books of the series, and it reprises many of her most memorable characters, as well as introducing new vampires to the mix. She is already working on a follow-up novel tentatively entitled Blood Paradise.

On the movie front, it was announced in August that Universal Studios has acquired the motion picture rights to The Vampire Chronicles. Hard to believe, but it's been twenty years since the film version of Interview with the Vampire with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt was released. According to an article in The Guardian, the purchase of the motion picture rights by Universal Studios is part of their plans "to reanimate old-school movie monsters". For the full text of the article, including a film vampire quiz, please see http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/08/universal-anne-rice-vampire-chronicles-book-series.

What's up for Horror in September and October?

First up, it's Resident Evil week at http://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3307615/pack-jill-sandwich-next-week-resident-evil-week/.

Fans of The Walking Dead should mark October 12 on their calendar so they won't miss the first episode of the show's fifth season on AMC. You'll recall that Season 4 ended with the revelation that Terminus wasn't much of a refuge after all. It will be interesting to see who survives this season. The show seems to have a particularly high character mortality rate. If you'd like to see a trailer for the new season, please visit http://www.hypable.com/2014/07/25/walking-dead-season-5-air-date-trailer/.

And the Horror Writers Association will once again host a month-long Halloween Haunts event in October on its Dark Whispers blog site. Stay tuned for more information on this annual event.

In the meantime, please feel free to share news of your favorite horror novels, films, television series, and websites as we start the countdown to Halloween 2014.

I'm Back!

Thanks, everyone, for sticking with me while I took the summer off to write. I'm pleased to say that I have finished the first of my new crime fiction series set in Canada. It was quite a learning curve for me because there are so many differences between U.S. and Canadian criminal investigation procedures. At the same time, I enjoyed developing two new characters, Kevin Walker and Ellie March of the Ontario Provincial Police. The draft of the novel is with an OPP subject matter expert who so kindly agreed to allow me to pick his brain for this new series. Stay tuned for more information on the new novel, and rest assured that you also haven't seen the last of Donaghue and Stainer.

Now that Behind the Walls of Nightmare is up and running again, I will be talking about the latest supernatural and horror news. If you have a particular topic that you'd like to see covered in the blog, please be sure to let me know.