Happy Belated, Edgar!

I can't believe it. I missed a birthday. An important one.

Yesterday was the 200th birthday of Edgar Allen Poe.

I was all set. Party hats. Favors. Noisemakers. Rum cake.

And...I forgot.

I have no excuse. Only shame.

Well, he's not gettin' any deader, so, really, he probably doesn't care.

Happy Belated 200th Birthday, sir. We who toil in the genre you made your own salute you!

Belatedly watching you, and Edgar's grave,
J.C. Koch

Old Horrors In New Packages

I must admit, as horror writers go, I'm timid in my viewing preferences. Not for me the gore-fests. Not really for me the current crop of horror movies -- at any time.

I startle easily and scare even more easily, which is probably why horror writing comes naturally to me -- I'm afraid of everything and its mother.

So, rarely can I watch a current horror movie and enjoy it. I've tried. The less said about my reactions while viewing 'Poltergeist' when it was still new the better. Now? Now it doesn't even frighten me, let alone keep me up nights.

'Rosemary's Baby', 'Alien', 'The Omen' -- all aren't scary any more. Chilling, in their way, but not scary. More current, for me, anyway, favorites are 'Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight', and 'Phantoms'. Love those two movies, cheesey though they are. And, as far as the entire 'Alien' series goes, give me 'Aliens', by the great James Cameron, any night over the rest of the series. Fright with action -- killer combination.

Of course, there are other kinds of horror movies. I recently watched one from what I call my Movie Crypt -- all the VHS and DVDs I have and have received from friends and relations, many of them now passed on to their greater rewards. Say what you will about the current crop of horror movies, but I'll put up '40 Pounds of Trouble' as one horrifying film, Tony Curtis and Suzanne Pleshette in all their youthful gorgeousness or not.

Watching you through my fingers,
J.C. Koch