Review – Hemlock Grove

My wife and I just started watching season two of Hemlock Grove, a paranormal drama from Netflix. I have to recommend this. The show is well done, there is good acting and in most cases, it trumps any werewolf or vampire movie you want to watch. No, it doesn’t beat them all, there are a few that do a really good job, but in truth, those seem to be few and far between.

If you are a fan of the monsters, then you should be watching this show. Best werewolf transformation scene ever.

On the writing front, I am editing three different things at the same time and plotting two more stories. This is frying my brain in new and unusual ways. I don’t enjoy editing. I am happy to make revisions, but editing is my bane. I love my editors for taking the time to tell me what to fix so that you guys will enjoy the story more.

So, of course, three at once. I am a special kind of idiot.

On an un-related note, the wife and I may get to work as staff on another comic book and toy convention. That was a blast and I can’t wait.

L. E. White

Resonance

Martin sat on the floor, back in the corner so that each smooth, plastered surface pressed against one shoulder.

With his back in the corner, it couldn’t get him from behind.

He looked down at his empty hands and then turned them over, looking at the grime that left dark lines under his nails and spider web patterns across his knuckles. He wondered how long it had been since he had first gotten sucked into this game.

The job advertisement in the paper had seemed too good to be true. He had agreed to a physical and mental aptitude test a week later and been excited at the prospect of a check.

A week later, he was in this maze of hallways and offices. Martin was covered in small wounds and bruises. He was naked and grimy, with blood splattered all over him.

He had blood up to his elbows, like he had dipped his arms in red paint.

He was sure something was in this place with him. Martin had heard a strange whistle a couple of time, followed by screaming and some gigantic wild beast roaring or howling. He didn’t know what made that noise and he was sure he did not want to find out.

He had run into other people a few times. They would either run away screaming or run to him, so happy to see another person that would collapse at his feet, sobbing and saying how great it was to see him.

Until they saw the blood. Then, they would look at him with wide, terrified eyes. They would stand still, mouth open, and then every single one would ran away. He didn’t want to be alone, but after chasing and losing a few of them, he would just let them run.

Every time he stopped chasing them, he would hear the whistle. Every time he heard the whistle, he would pass out. When he woke up, Martin would find himself alone. Most of the time, there was also a slick smear of blood somewhere in the room with him.

A door, almost in the opposite corner of the room opened, and a beautiful woman with dark red skin walked in. She was wounded and covered in blood and gore like he was, but she did not look afraid. She looked at him, and for a minute, Martin wondered if she was crazy. She looked at him like a piece of meat.

“Hi?”

Her lip curled up, though he couldn’t tell if it was snarl or smile, and she tilted her head to one side. “Is he the last?”

“The last what,” Martin asked.

A hollow voice sounded through the room from an intercom speaker that Martin had not known was there. “He is.”

“Good,” she said, and then she stepped towards him.

He watched her drop onto her hands and knees, facing him. He started to ask what she was doing, but his voice failed him when she grunted in pain. A ripple in the muscles on her back ran down her arms to her wrists before the skin on her knuckles split and she howled at him. He sat in the corner, shivering, as he watched a creature out of his childhood nightmares tear its way out of the woman. It rolled on the ground, whimpering and whining, and Martin started to lean forward, as if he might be able to help it stop the pain.

Then he heard another whistle. It was deeper and felt like his bones began to vibrate while it played. As a memory of hearing it before tried to reach him, his own skin began to split and fall off his hands. Searing pain shot through him as the skin peeled away, revealing thick, wet, dark fur.

He felt a deep roar tear its way out of his throat before darkness swallowed him again.

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Review: Allure of the Vampire by Corvis Nocturnum

I am not much of a user of social media. I post on here and tie it to Facebook and Twitter, but that is just advertising. I just started going onto facebook a little bit in the last week or so, and it hasn’t been bad, but I don’t have the time to be on it much.

I tend to post funny pictures related to coffee on Twitter. My addiction rearing its ugly head.

But, I did get an interesting offer on Facebook. One that might get me to check it out a little more often. Corvis Nocturnum was kind enough to send me a review copy of his book, “Allure of the Vampire“.

No, it is not fiction.

Corvis has written about the vampire as a cultural icon and vampirism as a sub-culture thoughout history.

I want to start off by mentioning the down sides of the book. I prefer to end on a high note and I believe the book deserves it.

I found a few grammer/typo errors. These were usually things like missing words, extra words or the wrong word. It isn’t bad, and anyone who has read my work can site the same things. I really hope my editors don’t take this opportunity to add comments about just how much cleaning my writing needs. I only mention this in case you are a grammer nazi. For some people, this can throw them off of a book. Usually, I am one of those people. I don’t expect any book to be error free, but too many errors early can make me put a book down. I didn’t put this down.

If you are not interested in a educational read. If all you are looking for is escapism, then this might not be the book for you. The subject matter is handled in a very academic way without the reading turning dry. From the beginning, it is clear that the author has invested a lot of time into researching the topic. You aren’t going to get vivid descriptions that will transport you away. There isn’t a romantic undertone.

But, there are a lot of vampires. 🙂

Moving on to strictly good things.

This is something I am actually intending to re-read. The information Corvis gave me in this has sparked my imagination and it will influence my writing from here forward. I gained a deeper understanding that I hope will make my vampire stories more powerful. I believe that reading this has improved my future as a horror writer.

There are bits of history I didn’t know. References to stories and movies I have never heard of and, in some cases, they were created by brilliant people who’s other works are considered classics. Rudyard Kipling and Alexandre Dumas are both examples.

Corvis has managed to keep the language flowing so that you don’t feel bogged down. Try to remember your high school text books. A lot of times, the information was interesting, but the way it read would put you to sleep. I think Corvis has managed to avoid that throughout the book and I am impressed that he did. A boring author can change anything into a sleeping aid.

“Allure of the Vampire” does not do that.

If you are interested in Vampires beyond a movie screen. If you want to experience them as more than a tragic anti-hero or dark villan, then “Allure of the Vampire”, by Corvis Nocturnum is a book for you. I will be happy to give it five stars.

I already sent him a thank you. It is a wonderful book

L. E. White

Side note: I started writing a vampire short for today but it went over 1,000 words fast. I don’t see it breaking out of a short story, but I didn’t want to post it here. So I give you another vampire story. One that qualifies as Flash Fiction by being under the 1K mark. After reading this, you can expect more blood drinkers to stalk around here. I will try not to run it into the ground, pun intended, but I am going to play with these ideas.

Rise and Shine

Margret shifted, reaching up to scratch her nose, and the motion shifted the sheet over her skin. She felt this over her breasts, which was not uncommon. She liked to sleep topless. She also felt the thin cloth shift across her upper things and lower stomach. Now that was unusual, she never slept without her underwear on.

When she thought she opened her eyes, she wasn’t sure. It was so dark.

Margret reached up and over, stretching to grab the flash light, but she smacked into something with her hand.

“What,” she mumbled, trying to remember where she had been that she would now be beside the wall.

She tried to roll over and reach out the other way, but she bumped into another wall.

“What the fuck?”

Margret started to set up, but she hit her head against the ceiling.

She began to panic as she stretched out her arms, feeling the smooth metal walls that surrounded her. She brought her hands down to her body, feeling around as she tried to find a clue about where she was.

She froze, hands trembling against her skin where she had her fingers in her mouth.

Her finger hurt where she had just pricked it with one of her fangs.

Lexington Comic and Toy Convention #LCTC2014

This last weekend, I was fortunate enough to work as a member of the staff of the Lexington Comic and Toy Convention. If you have never done something like this then you are missing out. It was a lot of effort, but it was a blast.

Costumes: There were plenty of people there doing CosPlay. I saw a lot more Deadshot than I expected because I just didn’t realize how popular that comic is. There were male and female version and most of them had purchased the costumes. Still, very cool. I loved all of the bounty hunters and Clone Troopers but the best for the weekend was the Predator below. Yes, there were a lot of great costumes, but I think this guy takes the cake. I will add other pictures after the story, but this one deserves a higher place in the post. Sorry about the pics though, I am a horrible photographer.

Toys: I don’t mean the collectible ones that people were buying. I am referring to the people who made blasters. Then there were the guys who built a Star Wars Speeder and the guys who brought a Back to the Future Delorian. Also, remember the Ghost Busters Proton Packs and Slime Guns. There were even a few people carrying Tesla Guns to go with their Steam Punk costumes. These were great.

People: Now, the wife and I were members of the staff, so we got to meet a lot of the other staff. As a whole, this group ran their butts off trying to make this an enjoyable experience for everyone. I am happy to have met them all and I hope to work with them again.

The convention attendees were also great. I didn’t have any trouble with anyone and for the most part, I heard that same thing from the rest of the staff. This was a well behaved, polite group of people. I was impressed and never really all that uncomfortable. Since I don’t do that well with crowds, this says a lot.

However, the thing that really made the con was the guests. The wife and I worked as guest helpers. We sat in booth, took money, buffered people and tried to make life easier on them. Had either of our guests been difficult, this convention would have received a totally different review. But got lucky, and both of them were fantastic.

The wife helped Tom Kane. Tom has a long list of voice credits and is a regular to conventions. He was funny, fun to be around and she got along with him as if he was an old friend. I had been worried about her at this. She is a great people person, but she denies being a geek so the group we were with could have been a problem. None of that was a problem and I know part of that was from having such a great person as her guest. She is hoping to work with Tom again.

For my part, I helped a wonderful guest. Roger L. Jackson is a fantastic voice actor with an easy going personality and a deep affection for his fans. Between people, we had some great conversations and I came away with a list of movies and books to explore. This was only the second convention that Roger has ever done but I hope he will keep doing them. His fans loved him and he was a pleasure to work with. His lovely wife came along as well and I couldn’t have been happier to have met and helped her as well.

For us, these three people made our experience something fantastic. I can’t say enough about how great they were so I will stop by saying that I hope we get to see them again. There were others, Jim Cummings for example, who we got to know and had fun with, but since 90% of our time was spent with Tom and Roger, I have to say they are the ones that made the con for us.

Come out and see us next year. With any luck, we will be right back where we were.

L. E. White

Collapse

Tommy walked up to the top of the hill and stared at the ruin of his barn. The winter storm had been the biggest in recorded history, dropping more snow in two hours than any storm he or his father had ever seen dropped in a day. The air had warmed up, changing the snow to rain. The rain had made the snow heavier, overloading the barn roof until it pushed the walls out and collapsed.

“I can’t believe this,” he said. The barn was ruined, the old grain truck, tractors and equipment were underneath the pile of timber and sheet metal, meaning that it would have to be torn down and cleaned up before he would be able to do anything else.

Tommy walked up to the door and looked around inside. There was water and snow on everything. The hay and straw were likely ruined. The old feed grinder had a rafter rammed through it, spearing the big canister like a toothpick holding an olive on top of a fancy sandwich.

He shook his head as he started picking his way through the debris. The only reason he had walked up here was to get some straw for the dog’s box. Poor thing needed to have something soft and warm to sleep in and with his son out of town that meant that Tommy would be the one taking care of it.

“Damn dog.” He cursed under his breath, not really blaming the dog, but needing to curse something as he surveyed the wreckage. “Damn snow.”

The straw was under a large section of roof that still had snow and ice on it. Tommy’s frown deepened, leaving windrows of wrinkles across his forehead. He couldn’t do anything to move the roof quickly, so he was going to have to drag the straw out in handfuls rather than just grabbing an entire bale.

“Damned dog,” he repeated as he started acquiring a pile of loose straw on the ground beside him.

“Ow! Fuck Me!” Tommy jumped backward and bounced up and down before rolling his sleeve back to examine the wound. He knew he had probably just jabbed his arm on a couple of the nails in the rafters but after getting a better look, he thought it looked like weird. There were two neat holes in his arm, both too fat for the sixteen penny nails he had used when building the rafters. There was almost no blood, which didn’t make any sense to him.

A sudden wave of dizziness swept through him, leaving Tommy to stand hunched over, resting his hands on his knees as he waited for his disorientation to pass.

Bent over as he was, he was looking at the ground when a long black stick with shredded bark settled down into the mud. Tommy’s eyes followed that stick up to where it bent, almost three feet above the ground, before he was distracted by another settling down beside the first.

“What …”

Tommy staggered backwards, slamming the back of his head on a piece of rafter, before losing his balance and sitting down with a plop.

His mouth was hanging open and his eyes bulged as he watched the spider crawl out of the straw. It was gigantic, like someone had hooked tree limbs to a Labrador. It was a mottled brown, with hairs on its legs the size of bailing wire. A pair of jointed fangs moved and wiggled in front of its mouth, each one red on the tip with fresh blood.

His blood.

Tommy rolled over and started crawling away. He screamed in panic and slipped down a little, smacking his face into the ground and coming up with a mouth full of mud and wet hay. He spat that out and tried to yell for help again, but just choked and coughed on the dirt.

He could hear the fangs clicking together behind him.

Tommy went under a piece of rafter, crawling through a spot that was too small for the monstrous bug to follow. He looked back, and watched as the beast lunged forward, smacking its head on the boards.

“Can’t get me now can you fucker,” he said before breaking out in hysterical laughter. “I got away,” he yelled between fits and fighting for breath.

The world spun and his eyes closed as the big bug slammed its head into the rafters again.

***

When he woke up, Tommy was freezing and shivering. The sun was almost down and the temperature had fallen at least ten degrees.

Tommy looked around, trying to pay special attention to the shadowed corners inside the barn before he sat up.

“Gotta get home,” Tommy chanted as he tried to crawl out of the barn’s wreckage. “I ain’t going to die to something I should step on.”

The ground was cold, but not frozen. There was a thin layer of freeze on top but he broke it under his weight. He couldn’t feel his feet very well and Tommy was beginning to get scared. He was only a quarter of a mile from home; he wouldn’t die up here like this.

“I hate fucking spiders,” he repeated every foot or so. “I am going to kill every one of them that I see for the rest of my days.”

The sky was still light, but the sun had slipped below the horizon by the time Tommy managed to get his top half out from under the barn roof. He was lying on his stomach, looking over at the southern horizon. He loved his farm, it had been passed from father to son for seven generations, but at this moment, Tommy was wondering if he might like to retire to some tiny tropical island.

He stopped daydreaming when one of the spider’s legs landed on the ground beside his head. Tommy glanced back over his shoulder to see the spider open its mouth. A thick, snot-like glob dripped down in a long, disgusting rope before falling on Tommy’s shoulder.

“No. God No! Ple..”

End

&

*** LCTC2014 Pics ***

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I watched the movie, “Battle Dogs” recently. It was a strange take on werewolves that had potential, but lacked any sense of horror. This movie turned out to be an action file.

I was disappointed. It was probably my own fault though; I was expecting a horror movie, a monster movie. I wanted something that would make me look over my shoulder and peek around the corner before walking in. What I got wasn’t even close.

Like I said, I was disappointed.

L. E. White

Hide

Sarah stretched, reaching as far as possible to try and flatten out. She shifted her hips and shoulders back and forth like some exotic dancer. As her body wiggled, she moved sideways, ending up far enough under the car so that she wouldn’t be seen unless someone was going to lie down on the ground beside of her.

“I’m safe,” she thought.

She took a shallow breath, dragging in as much air as the tight space would allow.

The idea had been to wait for them to go past. They shouldn’t have been able to see her.

She heard one loud sniffling sound before long, thin fingers wrapped around her ankles and drug her out into the open.

 

Little Book 5

I want to take a moment here to offer support for some of my favorite places on the web. These are all things I enjoy on a regular basis and that I think you might enjoy as well. I visit most of these sites daily and all of the weekly. In fact, these are probably the source of most of my entertainment. Check them out and if you like them, support them.

Pod Casts:

I listen to a few different ones on a regular basis. I know there are other and if you have any suggestions then please leave them in the comments.

Writing Excuses – Years of weekly episodes that are fantastic information about writing. This has taught me a lot. I am a faithful listener.

Escape Artist Pod Casts – I have mentioned these sites before. They record audio versions of all sorts of stories. Each site has a general genre that it sticks to and their work is fantastic. I hope to one day have stories on here.

Pod Castle – Fantasy

Pseudo Pod – Horror

Escape Pod – Science Fiction

Web Comics:

I am not going to something for each individual one. They all have their merits and are all fantastic. This is the order I visit them in each day. I usually spread them out through the day so that when I need a chuckle I have one. Bad days will see me visiting the archives. The only exception to this is Zen Pencils, which doesn’t do daily updates.

Calvin and Hobbes

Dilbert

Schlock Mercenary

Questionable Content

Least I Could Do

Zen Pencils

Music:

Grooveshark – This allows me to listen to whatever I want. The one problem that I have with Pandora is that it seems like they never play my seed songs. If I am seeding with them, then I must like them and want to hear them. Grooveshark lets me build a playlist out of whatever I want. I am very happy with this and if you want one of my playlists, try this one.

Well, I think that is enough for now. I hope you follow these links and enjoy the content. See you next week. Hope you enjoy the next installment of Little Book.

L. E. White

Little Book 5

Joey flipped the book open from the back and started moving forward. He ran into names five pages later. “We seem to have done a pretty good job,” he said before turning his gaze to his assistant. “When do I need to settle up with your people?”

Claire stretched in a way that only a cat can before jumping off the back of the couch. As soon as her feet hit the floor her body shifted and the busty brunette was standing in front of Joey again. “You may clear your account at any time as long as it is before you run out of pages.”

“So what happens?”

Claire brushed a strand of hair back behind her ear. “You must take the list to her. She will take it from you and in that moment the exchange will begin. The book’s pages will be wiped clean and she will hand you back the empty ledger.”

“So why do I need to give her the book? You have been collecting your cut of the take all along.”

“It is symbolic. You must present it to her to show that you are holding up your end of the agreement.”

***

That night, Joey and Claire drove over. The old woman was sitting in the same place that Joey had left her almost six months ago and she still had the same dress on. He looked at her with a close, scrutinizing expression as he stepped forward. She was still out of balance. Nothing about the woman was symmetrical, but now, he thought everything was off in a different way. He wasn’t sure he was remembering it right, but it looked like a mirror image of what he had seen in his mind.

“You have come to settle up like a good boy,” She said. “Morrin never showed up on his own to pay his debt.”

“I ain’t Morrin,” Joey said. “Now, do I just walk up and hand you this?”

The lopsided lady nodded with enough force to make her jowls shake and her ears wiggle. She extended her hands to Joey in the same way a little kid does when they want candy.

“Alright,” he said as he walked up to her. “Here you go.”

Their fingers touched and a spark of static cracked between them. Joey jumped and cursed, looking down and seeing a dark red mark where the electricity had burnt him.

“Thank you,” the woman said. “Catch him Claire.”

“What a…” Joey’s words faded out as he felt the room spin. Flashes of light went off all around him and for a second he thought maybe the woman had set of fireworks. The windows and walls were covered in splotches of color and Joey went down.

“Take him home and put him to bed,” the woman told Claire. “Lie with him to ease his payment.”

“He does not lie with me,” the demon said. “I will have to retrieve his concubine.”

The old woman shook her head. “His concubine will not understand the payment. It must be you.”

Claire sighed but bowed her head in supplication. She knelt, collected the unconscious form on the floor and headed out of the building. She looked at him before dumping his body into the trunk, making mental note of the white hairs that had spread over his scalp in the last few minutes.

Review: Hotel Transylvania

The wife and I decided that we needed to go out and as always, we wanted to do it on the cheap. For an evening on a cold winter’s night, that meant our options were limited.

The first thing was to find food. This is as much for her sake as her hunger because when I am hungry, I am difficult at best. I love trying new restaurants and something different while she wants flavorful and spicy.

The other thing was an activity, movies are getting ridiculous and everything else is worse. If you can tell me of a better option in Bloomington or Terre Haute Indiana for equal or less than the cost of a theater, please do. I didn’t come up with anything though so our evening was not looking very good.

She remembered a cheap theater. The cheapest we know of, actually, so we ended up setting out on an hour-long drive to Greenwood for the Cinemark Theater. This place is great, ONE DOLLAR matinée’s and two and a half for an evening ticket. The films are not new releases but we don’t care. Even with gas factored in, the cost for us to go to a film there with popcorn is less than the cost of our tickets at any local theater.

So, we head out and as we are driving, she is looking on her phone for something different for dinner. We settled on Yat’s, a Cajun place that is more fast food than restaurant. The food was good and fast. It also filled out the “something different” requirement very well. If you are near Yat’s in Indy or Dat’s in Bloomington you should give it a try, great food with a spicy kick.

Like I said, we went to Cinemark, got in for five dollars and got popcorn and a drink for around eleven. Popcorn and a drink might be a rip off at a theater, but this was still better than just the tickets at any of the local AMC theaters.

Hotel Transylvania turned out to be a great choice. We loved it. I may include some spoilers in this review, so read on with caution.

The movie is a love story, coming of age story and parental coming of age story, all rolled into one kid friendly comedy. The monsters are lovable and I don’t see this scaring any of the children.

One thing that I just didn’t like was the music. Adam Sandler, the voice of Dracula, is not a vocalist that I enjoy. This and the lyrics just didn’t do it for me. There was nothing wrong with it, just not my taste.

The other thing that bothered me was the ending. Dracula faces humans, who he has been preaching are horrible, is accepted, and then faces the sun and the danger of being burnt by it, with very little issue, a whole lot of acceptance, no bulking to the reality of monsters by the humans they are revealed to and a short time line. The movie did such a good job of building to this that I felt a little cheated by it. Again, this isn’t a deal breaker but I wasn’t happy. They could have done better, a lot better.

I will be getting Hotel Transylvania for my kids. The little ones are going to love it, especially the part where Frankenstein sends part of his body over to play a prank on the mummy. Even my wife laughed hysterically at that.

I just won’t be paying a lot of attention to the end.

L. E. White

Get Off My Lawn

“This will teach them.” He muttered as he sat on the bench in his garage; turning the tiny bolts that held the leg in place. It was almost done and his excitement was beginning to make him shake. He was tired of those stupid kids tearing up his yard. He was tired of their stupid parents that kept calling the stupid cops when he yelled at them or chased them away. What happened to his right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? If he was happier with them leaving him alone he shouldn’t have to try to scare them away with a shotgun. They should respect his rights just as he did theirs. He didn’t do anything to anyone else. He didn’t do anything to their stuff. He respected their rights.

He was tired of being bothered.

He wouldn’t be tired for much longer. As soon as he finished he would be able to etch the symbols on it; the true name of the Jinn that would breathe life into his little steel monster. Once the magic powered it up, the claws, the blades and the razor sharp tail would put an end to their lack of respect.

As he picked up the engraver and giggled. He fought to keep his hands steady as he carved the curves and dots into the plates along its back. He actually had to stop a few times to laugh for a moment. He could see the looks on their faces as his little beast charged at them. It legs clicking on the sidewalk and its claws clinking as it snapped them in anticipation.

As he cut the last swooping arc he felt the metal shiver under his hand.  He stood up and backed away from the bench a step as the scorpions legs began to twitch and tap. The eyes, which were nothing more than two tiny vegetable colanders didn’t glow or anything like that, yet he knew when the Jinn realized he was there and looked at him.

“I have brought you here.” He said. “I carved your true name into this body and granted you admission into this world.”

He waited for some sign of acknowledgement from it; something that would tell him that the spirit understood who its master was. Each leg moved up and down a little before it raised its metal belly up off of the workbench. The tail rose up to arch over its back and each claw flexed once.  He stood waiting on the body’s inhabitant to finish feeling it out. He waited for it to ask him what he wanted it to do. He had built it, he had summoned it, he was its master and all he had to do was to wait for it to realize this. The hollow scorpion he had built to house the Jinn was now filled. He stood smiling down at it while he waited.

He finally stepped closer to look at it. “Did you hear me?” He asked, “I brought you here. I am your master.”

The scorpion’s body was a metal canister with cut up serving plates bolted onto it to make it look a little more real. He had used piped connected by flexible pipe joints to build the legs and an old jewelry box on a short piece of ducting to make the head. The eyes were tiny metal straining colanders he had found at a flea market. The claws were also made of ducting and ended on scissors that had the ducts folded down around the hinge. The tail was a bit of high pressure hydraulic line from a tractor supply store with a butcher knife welded to the end. It was that knife that shot forward and buried itself in his stomach just below the ribs.

He grabbed at the wound when his creation pulled the knife back. Looking at it in shocked disbelief and asked, “Why?”

He only asked once as he slumped to his knees on the floor. That was when the tail shot forward again.

Review – Game of Thrones

I have heard it before. Over and over friends have said the same thing. I can’t count the number of times we have heard this in the last couple of years.

“You guys should watch Game of Thrones. You’re gonna love it.”

And now I have to admit that they were right.

The wife and I went out with friends this last weekend and heard about the show again. All of the same points about why we would love it and as usual, I said that I would try to remember it. The difference was that this time I did remember it. So we found season one and gave the first episode a try.

I was hooked the moment I saw the White Walkers. Fantasy monsters had me. I believe the wife was hooked at the discovery of the Dire Wolves. My daughter, I think she got caught up in the Stark girl that wanted to be queen, but I could have that wrong. As the Hand of the King said, “War was easier than daughters.”

I know that everyone has raved about the series. The books are famous and I understand why, it’s just that I haven’t had enough time to sink into a long fantasy series. However, this is really good.

So, for those who have seen it, you’re right, I love it. For those who haven’t, everyone else is right, you should be watching this.

L. E. White

Bullseye

The shaft of the arrow was smooth. It slid under the cold, wind cracked skin of my fingertip without a sound. The only noise was that special one that the bow made. A tiny groan as the string shifted and the wooden arms flexed. It was the sound of my bow preparing to throw the steal tipped timber towards my target.

Every time I heard it, I felt goose flesh crawl down my spine in anticipation.

As a child, I had grown up with stick and string in hand. My father had been an archer in the King’s army and a hunter outside of it. We made our way in the world by selling meat and fur.

I took to his trade with smiles and joy. It wasn’t that I enjoyed killing, but shooting. To place an arrow into the air was my greatest joy. I practiced as much as I could, learning the art of fletching and bow making when I could not shoot, so that I could care for the tools of my trade. Our bows were legendary, but never for sale. Neither of us bothered to make bows to sell, for I had inherited my love of archery from my father. We were not craftsman.

We were archers.

Many times, the elk and deer we had shot decorated the tables of the king. Many times, the enemies of our king had died before they ever reached the line because our arrows stood quivering in their chests.

The king had praised our skills and paid us well. He admired our work and personally offered my father commissions and honors. Each time, my father said that he was no more than an archer. Each time, he swore his loyalty to the crown and swore to leave the hunt to defend the realm. Yet, in truth, each time he refused his king. Each and every time, he chose our freedom over the king’s gold.

The king called us to his castle and asked that we hunt with him. A high honor to some though we did not speak of it as such. In his simple way, my father said he would be happy to hunt with our king, and that was his undoing.

The king was growing older, and his arm was not as sure as it had once been. Our monarch’s sharp eyes had dulled over the years and his ears did not hear as clearly as he remembered. When we out shot him, both his prized archer and the man’s son, the lord of our land became angry.

Like many a spoiled child, the king could not accept that he had been beaten by age and practice. He claimed that our bows were the secret and demanded that my father make him one.

My father was a simple man. He was not quick or wit and this may have been the thing that caused his death.

My father refused, saying that he did not have time to fashion a bow with the winter hunting season approaching. Our king flew into a rage. He commanded his men to drive arrows through my father’s hands and then tied him by those arrows to one of the horses. As soon as the king bellowed, “seize them,” I had hidden. I watched what happened, crying in silence so that the soldiers who were searching for me wouldn’t hear me. None of those pondering clods would ever find me in the woods.

I was almost a man when that hunting trip began. I am sure I was a man afterward. I stole through the woods in the night and headed to the south; away from my home and on to another future.

I spent years making bows and arrows. I built and crafted until the caves I had claimed for my home were filled. Then, I made my way to an archery tournament held in the land of our neighbors.

I won.

I stood before a king whose men had once died to my father’s aim, and declared my heritage. I offered my bow to that king. I told him of what had happened, and offered my bow, all of my bows, to help him expand his kingdom, if he but decided to ride north first.

Today, I stand in front of my old king. His army fell to a sky full of arrows that I had made. Arrows shot from the bows that I had crafted. He kneels in front of me, groveling for his life, but I do not hear him. My arm is steady as I listen to the music of my bow being drawn.

Review – I am Legend

I am not really one of those people who worry about watching something right when it comes out. If I hear bad reviews of a movie, I might never bother to watch it. Every now and then, I miss something good because of this.

I think “I am Legend” is one of the movies that I missed. This movie is old enough that the spoilers in this almost shouldn’t be listed as spoilers.

In case you don’t remember, “I am Legend” is an apocalypse story starring Will Smith. A doctor has modified a virus in an effort to cure cancer and inadvertently turns mankind into a monster between a zombie and a vampire.

Smith plays the part of one of the survivors. A military medical researcher who is one of the 1% of the population that is immune to the mutated virus in its killing and its mutating forms.

I heard a lot of bad things about this movie, people on the net saying that it wasn’t good because Smith wasn’t able to pull off the parts of it where he is alone. However, I was happy with the performance. I think he did a fine job.

I was a little disappointed with the ending. I was expecting something besides his self sacrificing death but it worked. Nothing wrong with it, just not what I felt was coming. However, the ending wasn’t far enough out of left field to make it a surprise.

The only part of the film I took exception with was the suicide mission. After losing his canine companion, Smith’s character goes out and fights the mutated, using an SUV as his primary weapon. This portion disappointed me as I didn’t feel it was in character. I understand the hopeless factor that they were going for, the desperation that forces someone to give up, I just didn’t like it. That and the way the fight itself was written didn’t appeal to me. The location he chose being the primary problem.

All in all, a good movie. I enjoyed it and might even watch it again. If you haven’t seen “I am Legend”, and you enjoy zombie or apocalypse movies then I think you will enjoy this one. Not great, nothing genre defining, but enjoyable.

L. E. White

Movie Night

Shawn looked at the book or more specifically the picture of a man on all fours biting the throat of some woman. The black and white image was grainy and blurred, most likely due to the age of the book. It had been printed long enough ago that he doubted there were digital scanners in use.

For a little town with a serious racist streak and a bible thumping reputation, a full set of the “Encyclopedia of the Occult” in the school library seemed out of place. He wondered if the librarian was more open minded or if maybe the little old ladies in the PTA just didn’t know the books were there.

For a city kid who had been taken in by his aunt and uncle, this town was a drag. There wasn’t a place to skate without the cops escorting you home and nobody had any idea about the important things in life. Clothes, music and attitude were all at least twenty years behind what he liked to think of as the civilized world.

That, and if you weren’t a jock, your life in school was hell.

He had been bullied, punched and picked on since he got here. None of the girls realized how cool he was and he doubted they would figure it out in the next year and a half before he would turn eighteen and be able to leave.

So this is what Shawn’s life had turned into, sitting alone in the library at lunch to avoid the other boys. He felt pathetic as he brushed the long bangs of blonde hair behind his ear.

“I like that picture too.”

Shawn jumped, he hadn’t realized that the girl had walked up and now he looked like a puss. He looked up at here and tried not to frown. She was tiny, flat and skinny with short brown hair. He had no idea who she was but since she wasn’t pushing a cart around he guessed that she wasn’t a library assistant. That meant she was one of the losers who always hung out in the library at lunch.

She stepped closer and put her tiny, pale hands on the back of a chair. “Do you like the whole series or just that picture?”

Oh God, Shawn thought as he looked at her. Why couldn’t she be at least cute? “I ummmm just grabbed what was beside me.”

She wasn’t making eye contact. “Oh, I thought you might be interested in this kind of stuff. Nobody else ever looks at these.”

“Not really,” he said. Shawn tried to be too cool to talk to her but he had to admit that it was nice to at least have one person talk to him without being a douche. The problem was that if he started being nice, this might make things ever worse. “I like horror movies and stuff but this …. Yeah.”

“You like horror movies?”

Crap, he thought, I don’t want to start being seen with this much of a spaz. He just nodded, looking back down at the book.

“I do too,” she said, “My name is Nancy.”

Shawn just nodded and half smiled. “Shawn.”

She stood there for a couple of seconds of awkward silence before she whispered, “Bye,” and darted away.

***

Shawn risked going to the lunch room after meeting Nancy and was rewarded with a roll in the back of the head. Good God these red necks were a waste of space. He didn’t want to hang out in the library any more but it was better to put up with a nerdy girl than to deal with the D-bags from whatever team they were on. So today he was back at his table.

He was watching the stacks and saw Nancy dart between a couple of shelves. Shawn was sure she had seen him and he frowned as he thought of dealing with her. He was sure this school sucked more than any other he could have attended.

“Hi.”

He nodded to Nancy without looking up.

“Can we join you.”

Shawn looked up at the word “we” and found two girls standing to his left. Nancy was there, still looking like her mother had done a bad job making her clothes, with an arm full of books and a big case that he knew was for some musical instrument.

The other one wasn’t all that much different. As they sat down, the dishwater blonde with pasty makeup and no tits was introduced as Mary.

Mary was the prettiest, not that it was any compliment, and she started talking since she was obviously the alpha of the pair. “So Nancy told me she had met you here and that you were talking about horror movies?”

Shawn looked at her and nodded, she seemed worthless, but considering his prospects so far, maybe she wasn’t that bad.

“We like horror movies too,” She said. “In fact, we were planning on getting together and watching a bunch tonight.”

Shawn nodded once more. It was like a train wreck. He could see it coming and he didn’t think there was any way it was going to get better.

“You want to join us?”

“I don’t know.”

Mary grinned; it made Shawn think of those books that describe someone as predatory. “Thing is, just horror movies aren’t that much fun by themselves. You have to get out of your head to really enjoy them.”

Now Shawn looked up. Those words seemed like a different sort of invitation. He was wondering if maybe this chapter of the Geek Squad might have some good party favors.

Mary smiled, her face creasing with a massive set of dimples. Nancy looked a little flushed but she kept her eyes down. “Once we can really relax, then ‘Movie Night’ gets fun.”

Shawn looked at them. Neither had a clean complexion or any figure to speak of. Despite that, there wasn’t an eighteen year old boy in the world who wouldn’t think about a stoned threesome no matter what they looked like.

“When and where?”

Mary’s smile got bigger and Nancy blushed a little. Shawn tried not to think about it much as the girls gave him a time and an address.

“See you,” they both said as they stood up and left.

***

“Where the hell am I?” Shawn said as he looked at the map on his phone again.  He had been driving around the little pin on the map for fifteen minutes and he hadn’t found the house yet. This wasn’t really a subdivision, it was more of a sprawling collection of homes. They didn’t look uniform and they weren’t packed in to fit as many houses as possible into one small area. It was almost a small town of its own.

Shawn looked up after turning around in another cul-de-sac and saw a light where the front door had opened. The front porch light turned on and then Nancy stepped out and waved.

“Bout fucking time,” Shawn said as he pulled up in front of the house and killed the engine.

“We wondered if you were lost,” Nancy said. She was wearing short and a half shirt that would probably have kept his attention on another girl. On Nancy, she just looked like a little boy.

Shawn grunted and walked in past Nancy, stopping just inside the door to look around. “Whoa,” was the only word he managed. The house looked normal on the outside, but inside it was all wood, dark and polished so that it looked like it had been through a fire and then cleaned up. There were all sorts of stuffed animals lining the walls and three was even a full size polar bear standing at the end of the entry way.

“My father loves to hunt,” Nancy said as she shut the door and walked past Shawn. “Just wait until you see the family room.”

“So this is your house?”

She smiled over her shoulder and then led the way to the family room. “Yeah, my folks our out of town and Mary is staying with me.”

The family room was filled with animals. All kinds of birds were mounted on one wall as if they were flying away. Deer, Elk and Moose heads were on the other side of the room. The big thing though was that there were bears in every corner, each one a different type.

The couch faced a gigantic fireplace. Shawn expected to see a bear skin in front of it but when he looked there furry rug was narrow. Heads came out of either side and when he looked closer Shawn realized the rug was a collection of wolves. Each one was laid out beside the other to form a catwalk style carpet leading to the hearth.

“Wow.”

“You can say that again.” Nancy came down the stairs and joined them beside the rug. She must have just gotten out of the shower because she had a towel wrapped around her head.

“You stay here a lot?” Shawn asked as he looked around. When he turned to look at Mary he realized that she wasn’t wearing a bra. She had put a white t-shirt on while she was still wet so that it was clinging to her body. She wasn’t impressive, but Shawn still got caught staring.

“All the time,” Mary said with a smile. “We have been friends forever and we stay together all the time.” She twisted her foot and looked Shawn up and down before just staring a little below the logo on his t-shirt.

“So, um, where are we gonna watch the movie?” Shawn asked. Turning away and fighting the heat that he felt in his cheeks.

“The TV is in that cabinet,” Nancy said, pointing to a large wooden cabinet off to the side of the fireplace.

The girls grabbed drinks and popcorn while Shawn sat down on the couch. When they came back, they flopped down on either side of him and turned on the show. It was an old werewolf movie, but at least Shawn didn’t mind watching “The Howling” again.

Shawn was putting beers away pretty fast and the girls just kept giggling as the movie went along. The characters were in ‘Flow’ and the husband was getting it on with the werewolf lady when Shawn felt a hand on his leg. He looked down to see Mary touching his leg and then looked up into her smiling face.

“I love this part,” she said,  moving her hand up and down his thigh. “Don’t you?”

Shawn nodded, drunk enough not to care how pretty she wasn’t. He was about to shift toward her when he felt another touch on his other leg.

“I think this is my favorite part too.” Nancy said as she imitated Mary’s movements.

All Shawn could do was to smile and relax. He spread his arms out and put one around each of the girls. “I think this might be the best part of the whole thing.”

“Naw,” Mary said as she raised up off the couch and stepped over onto the wolf skin rug. “It gets better.”

Nancy stood up and extended her hands to help the boy up off of the couch. “Lots better.”

“Wow, you’re strong,” Shawn said as the tiny girl almost popped him off of the couch. “How did you help me up so easy?”

Nancy giggled as Mary grabbed Shawn’s other side and they ushered him to the center of the wolf skins. He sat down and then laid back so that he could see the movie. The couple on screen were getting busy and the girls were helping him out of his shirt. Just as the close up on the werewolf lady’s transformed eyes went across the screen Shawn’s world went black for a moment, covered by his shirt. Once it was off, two small hands pressed him back onto the fur.

“This is actually the best part,” Mary said. On screen, the werewolf bit into the drunken man, tearing into his shoulder with long, white teeth.

Shawn felt hot breath on his shoulder and his stomach as the girls leaned over him. Maybe this will be worth it, he thought.

He gasped in a breath as his shoulder exploded into pain. His beer driven haze was blown away as he fought against the tiny girl that was biting his shoulder. Shawn grabbed her hair to try and pull her away, ripping out a small chunk for his efforts. Nancy jerked out his grip and turned away. Shawn put his hand on his shoulder and felt a warm, wetness cover his palm. The boy started to raise his hand up to look at it when he felt something wet on his stomach.  The trailing sensation of being licked felt so out of place that he looked down to see Mary.

She pulled her head away after the lick and turned her face to Shawn. The girl’s eyes had turned bright amber and when she smiled he saw a mouth filled with sharp teeth. Her voice came out low and rasping, “This is the best part.”

 

Time to talk about food

The wife and I are big fans of trying new things to eat and of trying to find new ways to make the same things. There is no consistent type or style of cooking in our house. That being said, our kids friends have said how much they like coming over for dinner and how great it is.

It is better when the wife cooks but I try.

The most recent attempt that I have made is steak with a Chimichurri sauce.

For everyone who doesn’t know what this is, there is a little bit of back story that goes along with it. As the cookbook that I used explained it. Argentina may be the only country in the world that eats more beef than the USA. That being said, this steak sauce is supposed to be the top choice for flavoring beef at their tables. It is light and spicy in a way that is different than the typical A1 or Worcestershire that I have been raised with. The description that I read suggested that it was also a healthier option than the off the shelf sauces. I don’t know if it is true or not but I also don’t care. Only the taste matters in our house right now and this sauce was a hit. The recipe was simple.

Water

Red Wine Vinegar

Salt & Pepper

Red Pepper

Garlic

Parsley

Just that simple. The red pepper gives the sauce a kick. Used sparingly, this made the steaks we cooked some of the best we have ever fixed. Everyone loved them.

Take some time and look this up. You can find the specific recipe that I followed in my favorite cook book. Cook This, Not That.

L. E. White

Review of Sherlock

I am a bit behind in entertainment. I don’t typically go to the opening of anything and I avoid a lot of the news. I don’t even have television coming into my home. We watch things off of the net and have eliminated the satellite bill. Hulu, YouTube and Amazon Prime are my friends.

Sometimes, this means that I find out about things late. “Sherlock”, from the BBC is one of those things. This is a wonderful and entertaining show that I would highly recommend.

While a number of the story elements have been changed to deal with modern times, I have to say that I was impressed with how often they manage to stick to elements of the original stories. This made things very familiar and also made it a lot easier for me to fall for the show.

If you are looking for something new to watch, I would recommend “Sherlock”. You won’t have to be a fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to appreciate it and if you are a fanm you won’t come away feeling that it has ruined your enjoyment of those classic tales.

One thing that does require mentioning. There are only three episodes for each season and each one is fairly long. I didn’t have a problem with this but if you have a short attention span it could be a turn off.

L. E. White

In the Eye of the Beholder

The chisel, to remove rough chunks until the shape can be seen; the rasp, to scrape away the chisel marks and reveal the lines of what is to come, and sand paper, to gently take away the last remnants of my work and leave only the natural beauty of the dryad in the wood.

I showed you every piece. I labored for weeks to bring out the beauty in the trees, only to have you laugh in my face.

At my love.

Now, I will use these same tools to bring out the beauty that I see inside of you.