Dark Short Fiction,
Dark Romantic Fiction,
Horror short & flash fiction stories,
And the occasional bottle of wine...
 February is Women in Horror Month. To celebrate, I've been participating in the #WiHM Blog Talks, organized by Wendy Howard. Today is Day 5 and I've written some thoughts on the final discussion topic: Torture. Psychological Torture - Debbie Christiana You don’t want Hannibal Lector in your head. The scene where he makes the man in the cell next to him swallow his tongue is one I’ll never forget. As a lover/reader and writer of horror (dark fiction), I find psychological horror/torture the most intense, terrifying and yet, my favorite of all the sub-genres. I’m fascinated that the human mind, while our greatest asset, can so easily turn against us and become our worst enemy. The fact that someone else can burrow so deep in our mind, turn it upside down until we second-guess our sanity and sometimes do things we wouldn’t ordinarily do, is mind-blowingly creepy. (Pardon the pun). I tried my hand at psychological horror in a dark short fiction story in an anthology that I published last year: Wayne is a serial killer. Then he takes Charlotte. She refuses to shed a tear or to beg and plead for mercy. Wayne will hit her, but when he inches close to her in a threatening manor, she head butts him. Determined to break her and near the end of his rope, Charlotte nestles her way into Wayne’s mind, sharing a grisly secret of her own. What do you if your so-called victim is darker form of evil than you are? The idea came when I was sent a link for a dark short story contest. The host (who was an avid horror lover and didn’t scare easy) wanted something so terrifying and unique that it would make her leave the lights on at night. She challenged us all to scare her like she’d never been scared before. The deadline loomed and I had nothing like that, so I declined. That night, Wayne and Charlotte visited me. Not in a dream, I was awake, but like so often is the case, ideas come when least expected. They were a disturbing couple and I wrote the story (not well, lots of editing followed) in two days because I wanted them out of my head and on the paper. The cliché advice is “write what you know”. I don’t know about psychological horror first hand, but I do know that Wayne and Charlotte scared me. And that’s what I wrote about. The feedback from this story has been good. The comments tend to lean toward “You seem so normal, what the hell’s wrong with you?” I take that as a compliment. Shameless plug: You can find the story I refer to in the post in my collection of short dark fiction: CURIOUSLY DARK TALES here on Amazon for 99 cents!!
Thanks to all the awesome authors who participated in this event, to Wendy Howard for organizing it, and to all the women who write, direct, act and create horror for the world to enjoy!!
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 FEBRUARY is Women In Horror Month. To celebrate, I'm participating in the Women In Horror Month Blog Talks. Today, I'm hosting two lovely authors who discuss their favorite women of horror. I'll have two other posts this week in honor of women who write about the darker side, so I hope you'll stop back. Today's discussion topic: Favorite Women in Horror.  My first guest today is author Dina Rae. Dina Rae has penned 6 books with a 7th on the way. Her themes revolve around conspiracy NWO paranormal, and aliens. The Best Seller is her latest release. There are so many amazing women of horror. Anne Rice is the first woman to come to mind. Her novels are dizzying, over-detailed, and at times hard to follow, but the stories are so rich with history, intrigue, and imagination. My favorite actress of horror is Jamie Lee Curtiss-no one holds a candle to her in Halloween. I also love Jessica Lange in American Horror Story. Where was she last season? I miss her enough to stop watching the show. One of my favorite characters in a horror movie has to be Charlize Theron's character in Devil's Advocate. She plays the wife-gone-crazy as husband transforms. I also loved Emmanuelle Seigner in The Ninth Gate. She played the perfect Lucifer. DRAWING: Leave a comment and you’re entered to win 1 signed copy of Love, Lust, and Voodoo or 1 signed copy of The Best Seller. Shipping to U.S. address only. Website: https://dinaraeswritestuff.blogspot.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/haloofthedamned Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dina-Rae/e/B0085348DY GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5747496.Dina_Rae  My second guest is author Audrey Brice. Audrey Brice writes paranormal thrillers, mysteries, and horror stories where spirits, demons, and occult practitioners are both heroes and villains. Dana Reed (author) - She was the first female occult-horror author I ever read and her stories inspired me to be myself and to not be afraid to write the weird, twisted, and crazy things I write. Her book Sister Satan was the reason I didn't eat hamburgers for ten years. Her books are among the few I will re-read, and whenever I lend them, I always have to replace them. She is amazing. My favorite Dana Reed title is Margo. GIVEAWAY: Everyone who signs up for my newsletter on my website in February will be entered in a drawing to win a Thirteen Covens ebook, or a copy of the audiobook A Rising Damp. Website: http://www.sjreisner.com Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Audrey-Brice/e/B003ZFW3DE Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/audreybricewrite Thank you Dina and Audrey for stopping by, discussing your favorite women in horror and your giveaway.
A big thank you to Wendy Howard for organizing this wonderful Women In Horror Month Event!  #WineWednesday is one of my favorite blog posts. My husband and I review a bottle of wine, that we've bought, solely on the uniqueness, strangeness or coolness of the label - and nothing else. This month's bottle may help you celebrate St. Valentine's Day Massacre. I have to give my husband full credit for this bottle. He found it in a liquor store in Saratoga, NY and it's by far our best bottle yet. It's from Coppola Family Wines - yes that Coppola Family - and we've been lucky enough to visit their beautiful vineyard in California. One of the best parts is when you walk into the main house there is a long, sweeping, Gone With The Wind type, staircase and at the top is the actual car, bullet holes and all, that Sonny Carleone was shot in, in the Godfather movie. This was a few years ago, and I hear it has since been auctioned off. But it was very cool to see. But I digress. Without further ado... VENDETTA
The bottle is wrapped in paper and is actually ripped, on the front and back, from the bullet hole. When you visit the website, it gets even more fun. You have to knock three times, like an old Speak Easy and then they send you the password to enter. From the website: The story of Vendetta begins with a secret. A whisper. A knock on a hidden door. You’ll have to find out where it ends yourself. Vendetta isn’t an ordinary wine, but this ain’t your regular juice joint. A full-bodied blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec, Vendetta was forged in the back rooms and secret alleyways of a bygone era. Don’t talk about it. (drink it.) Concentrated yet elegant, it's a wine you can't refuse. We had this wine with homemade Chicken Parmagina, salad and garlic bread. It's a deep, dark red and a tad dry, but it went down smooth. I thought it had a bit of a spicy after taste which I loved. My husband is a Cab and Malbec fan so we both enjoyed this wine and will definitely buy it again. It was one of our more expensive wines at $24.99 -our usually budget is $10-$12 or our beloved box of wine that sits in the refrigerator - but since we've had Coppola wines before and always found them very, very good, we'll have no trouble spending it for special occasions. If at any time Vendetta ends up on your dinner table, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!! SALUTE!   Welcome! Thanks for clicking over to my blog from the Blood Valentine Horror Facebook Page Event. My contribution on this day of Love Gone Bad is a flash fiction story I call...  BAD BLOOD by Debbie Christiana He rested one hand on Lucy’s shoulder, heavy and warm. His other hand guided the zipper of her dress down her spine, exposing her bare back. He whispered in her ear and nibbled at her neck. Lucy tensed. Where butterflies used to flutter at his kisses, revulsion now resided. She stepped away from him, her husband, a man she thought she knew. The phone call changed everything. The headlines of the past two years flashed before her eyes. Ten murders. Ten mangled bodies. There wasn’t a preferred target. Men, women, young and old, all shared a level playing field. His arms snaked around her waist. “Baby, what’s wrong?” “How could you do such a horrible thing?” Her hand slid toward a knife on the cutting board. “What?” She spun around, knife slashing. Blood sprayed from his sliced face. His mouth dropped open and his eyes widened. He made no sound. Without remorse, Lucy drove the knife into his heart. He staggered backwards, blood seeping through his J. Crew shirt. His back hit the refrigerator and he collapsed to the floor. Always incapacitate the victim with the element of surprise. It never failed. “Why?” He whispered. “Because you turned me in.” “No, he didn’t.” The cold nose of a gun pressed into the base of her neck. “I did.” Click here to head back over to The Bloody Valentine Horror event for more stories, flash fictions, pictures and excerpts from some awesome horror authors.
Happy (Bloody) Valentine's Day!! |
Debbie Christiana
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