THE BLACK ALBUM SITES

Hi,

Since I haven't done this in ahwile, here is a list of sites related to my novel "THE BLACK ALBUM: A Hollywood Horror Story."

Product sales page: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DQ3FFX0

Company website: http://brooklynapachepress.com/

Thanks to everyone who has been supportive of this blog.

I may be changing the name of this blog in a couple of weeks, since I will also be discussing my other soon to be released novel "SPOOK: Confessions of a Psychic Spy," a Cold War espionage series that blends social commentary regarding race relations with science fiction. I call it: "12 Years a Slave" meets "James Bond," if you can believe that.

Anyway, that's the update. Have a great day!

"Man, they're really not happy about their phone service"

Images courtesy of "The Black Album"

ZOMBIE DREAMS

Hi All,

Tonight's post will be a departure from my usual Black Album ramblings. Not that I don't still have a lot to say about my first novel and even more to say about my second novel which is about a week away from going to the editor (Yippee Ki yah). But, as I sit here jonesing and counting the days until the return of arguably the best show on TV: "The Walking Dead," my thoughts turn to the nightmares I have been having lately and the whole subject of dreams in general. 

I think I'm the odd man out when it comes to nightmares. 

You see... I enjoy them. 

Especially zombie dreams (I call them dreams because the word nightmare has a negative connotation, and like I said, I enjoy most of my scary dreams). Usually, after a double dose of "The Walking Dead," I'm almost guaranteed to have a zombie apocalypse nocturnal smorgasbord.

I love zombie movies. I'll even suffer through the bad ones. As long as I get to see an occasional zombie brain buffet. I even caught myself watching low budgie Japanese horror turd "Zombie Ass: Toilet of the Dead" on Netflix the other night. Frankly there were more boobs than zombies, not that I'm complaining.

Now I don't want to sound like a freak (if I haven't come across that way already), But I have a secret.

Deep down inside of me, I'm kind of hoping for a real life zombie apocalypse. And that conflicts me greatly. On the one hand, I feel bad about thinking that way. I mean all the millions and millions of poor people who would get ripped apart by hordes of the living dead, walkers, biters, the unholy, meat puppets, or whatever you want to call the damn dead heads.

But, as a former athlete, part of me sees it as the ultimate test. Would I have what it takes to survive mentally as well as physically? Would I have the stomach to rip out some zombie's stomach with a spork? Would I be able to drive a machete through a zombie's eye socket into the brain (although I would tend to avoid machete's altogether. I could see my machete getting stuck in some zombie's skull and being overrun while I'm trying to pull  it out).

But... I have a game plan. First stop would be to the local gun shop (a sporting goods store would also do). Of course, everybody thinks of that. But here's one they don't think of: my second stop would be to a motor-cross store. I would armor the f*** up. Boots, elbow pads, body armor, the works. I don't understand people in zombie movies walking around in tee shirts. Or they trying to get themselves killed? I would be armored from head to toe. No sneaky little legless zombie in the grass is going to bite my ankle when I stop to take a wiss. 

Next I would visit the local marina and purloin a sailboat (forty foot or greater). Now I don't believe those movies where legions of the living dead are bobbing around in the ocean just waiting to climb aboard an unsuspecting vessel. I would have to believe the salt water would dissolve them pretty quickly.  Just being realistic here.

Then, it would just be a matter of riding up and down the coast, making hit and run trips inland for supplies. Hopefully, I would meet up with some like-minded human survivors (there's strength in numbers). Hopefully one of them would be a sexy warrior princess who is turned on by sailors. 

This doesn't make me strange, does it?

Does anyone feel the same way?

Hello?

Zombie smorgasbord 

Images courtesy of "The Black Album"

DIARY OF THE BLACK ALBUM

Finally... I'm returning to more of my regular schedule. I'm over the hump of my second novel and hoping to have a first draft for my editor in a couple of weeks.

With all the holidays out of  the way, I'm continuing the timeline from the making of the movie. I've decided to retitle it however. Instead of Timeline Number Five, this will be:

DIARY OF THE BLACK ALBUM 

# 5

September 28th

That night myself and members of the cast and crew stayed at the large Strawberry Lodge, the mansion style home we elected to be the main location of the film. Our cast included the lead actresses' two daughters, her teenage brother and a couple of their friends.

At 3:00am, I woke up to the sound of screaming. Sharlene (the lead actress) and I ran downstairs, where the shouts had come from. We almost ran into one of Sharlene's daughters, Paulina. The girl looked scared. A few moments later, we found the rest of the kids. They said they had - literally - seen a ghost. The ghost of a little boy to be exact.

Sharlene and I, flashlight in hand, patrolled the downstairs, room by room. Although we saw nothing, we could feel something. I'm not superstitious. And, as much as I like to write about them, I do not believe in ghosts or other things that go bump in the night. However, the hairs were standing up on my arms.

Alone, on the back patio, I found evidence of the kids. A pizza box - I had ordered pizzas earlier - and the embers of a marijuana joint the kids had obviously been smoking. I did not tell their mother.

October 2nd

Sharlene and I return home to find an arrangement of white stones on our doorstep. It is a circle with a symbol inside the circle. I kick the rocks away, thinking the kids are pranking us. Something about it felt ancient, tribal.

October 3rd

The shoot has really begun. We are shooting sequences with the actor playing the Demon Jeremy at our house. He is our highest profile actor, so we are trying to shoot him out first. We keep losing house power and have to keep flipping the lights back on. 

At least thirty coyotes, on a small hill right behind our house begin howling. The sound is maddening, and frightening. 

I notice there is a full moon.

TO BE CONTINUED

Demon rising.

Images courtesy of The Black Album

  

NEW YEAR, NEW HORROR

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2014 (I still remember when I was partying like it's 1999).

I want to thank everyone who participated in Horror through the Hallowdays (which is sadly over) and my free book giveaway promotion.

I will deliver on more timeline diary from the making of the horror movie, as well as releasing more scenes from the scariest movie you'll never see.

But I am also entering a new phase of my life as the fledgling owner and president of BROOKLYN APACHE PRESS (that's my publishing company for those of you who are new to the party). Since I launched it way back in July 2013, I have been learning by trial and error as I try to build awareness for my first novel (which is great because I'm learning so much for all my other books to come).

The new phase: the search for book reviewers who will review my book (I won't buy reviews because I want sincere reviews). I would also be interested in articles and interviews as well.

For this new phase I'm going to do something I'm not very good at. I'm going to ask for help through this vast global community we call the Internet. Although I call it the great equalizer. Why do I call it that? Because traditionally, if you wanted to release a music album or book or turn your screenplay into a movie, you had to go to the dreaded gatekeepers (Veepees, agents, managers, execs, producers). The suits! If they said no, your dream was over. Year after year I would write screenplay after screenplay. People would get excited. Then, when we would get to the gatekeeper, there would be the obligatory pass (always with some incredibly lame reason). Let's face it, gatekeepers have their own agenda and their own people and they don't plan on letting you or I in!

Now, through the power of the Internet, all these creations that lay dormant in my sockdrawer, will live, finding new life and hopefully an audience over the Internet and throughout the world as novels. Which reminds me of the quote from the movie "ED WOOD," where a scientist comes to the jungle to tell Bela Lugosi that the scientific community realizes he was right and they were wrong about his experiments and they want him to come home. 

This was Bela's response: "Home? I have no home. Hunted... despised... living like an animal. The jungle is my home! But I will show the world that I can be its master. I shall perfect my own race of people... a race of atomic supermen that will conquer the world (diabolical laughter)."

God, I love that movie.

Woo... Totally sidetracked.

So... if any of you know of any book reviewers, newspaper, magazine, television people you could turn me on to, I would be forever in your debt.

As always, I look forward to your thoughts and comments. Thank you.

Trick or treat!

Images courtesy of "The Black Album"