A to Z Challenge. D...

We're halfway through our first week and I'm enjoying myself! I thought I might feel a bit overwhelmed but I think I did a lot of preparation and that is helping me get better organized. I've visited a few of the other participating blogs and I've found great ideas and interesting postings that I will follow throughout the whole moth. I hope you are feeling as good as me!


For D-day I have more recommendations for you, but also some great news for the fans of the Hellraiser series.


Just a day ago I was taking about the Books of Blood by Clive Barker and the amount of movies these stories have spawn. Among them I mentioned the Rawhead Rex movie. Well, since then it has been brought to my attention that Clive Barker was not content with the treatment his story received on that movie and has, for a long time now, tried to distance himself from the production. However, that same novella will be now reprinted as part of the latest Post Mortem Press anthology, "Torn Realities". If any of you are recurrent followers, you know that's the same house that published my novel "Perpetual Night". How cool is that? My book and one of the groundbreaking fathers of horror will be under the same roof. Man, I can't wait for a Post Mortem Press party!!


Now, for the Hellraiser news. That same author, Clive Barker, on that same very special collection, Books of Blood, included a story where the Cenobites were introduced for the first time, hence giving birth to the Hellraiser movies we all know and love. Well, Sonar Entertainment is giving Pinhead the television treatment and as off now, a TV show is in the works. This is sure to make the earth rumble with all the die-hard fans who will rush to their TV sets. For more info, follow this link.


Now, lets go on with the show. The pics for D-day are:


Movie.


Dead End (2003)

Directed by Jean-Bamptist Andrea


Plot: For the past 20 years, Frank Harrington has grudgingly driven his family to celebrate Christmas with his mother-in-law. This year, he takes a shortcut that turns to be the biggest mistake of his life. The nightmare begins. A mysterious woman in white wanders through the forest, leaving death in her wake. A terrifying black car - its driver invisible - carries the victims into the heart of the night. Every road sign points to a destination they never reach. The survivors succumb to panic, to madness; deeply buried secrets burst to the surface, and Christmas turns into a living hell.


Review: Dead End is creepy as hell. Another often dismissed small movie that packs a big punch; it is atmospheric, strange, and will capture you from scene one. Its dry humor a la Evil Dead but without over the top antics brings a good balance to the otherwise very tense setting and its clever final twist adds a new dimension to the story. It will make you weary of dark, lonely roads for sure!


For some reason the embedded code isn't working but you can watch the trailer here.


Book.


Drood by Dan Simmons.
Published by Little, Brown and Company in 2009.


Blurb: On June 9, 1865 while traveling by train to London with his secret mistress, 53-year-old Charles Dickens--at the height of his powers and popularity--is hurtled into a disaster that changed his life forever. 
Did Dickens begin living a dark double life after the accident? Were his nightly forays into the worst slums of London and his deepening obsession with corpses, crypts, murder, opium dens, the use of lime pits to dissolve bodies, and a hidden subterranean London mere research . . . or something more terrifying? 

Just as he did in "The Terror", Dan Simmons draws impeccably from history to create a gloriously engaging and terrifying narrative. Based on the historical details of Charles Dickens's life and narrated by Wilkie Collins (Dickens's friend, frequent collaborator, and Salieri-style secret rival), DROOD explores the still unsolved mysteries of the famous author's last years and may provide the key to Dickens's final, unfinished work: "The Mystery of Edwin Drood".

Review: Drood is written as narrated by Wilkie Collins in the form of a Victorian memoir to be read 125 years after his death. Collins is addicted to drugs and finds himself slipping further and further into his addiction as the novel proceeds, thus becoming the perfect unreliable narrator and giving the novel a great twist. Are the events real or are they the twisted imaginings of an opium addict? Heavily on the side of a mystery, Drood is a historical fiction novel that combines great elements of mystery, suspense, and horror.   This is a fantastic read for those who don't enjoy ghosts stories or truly terrifying books but appreciate atmospheric, intelligent ones.


I love reading your opinions, so don't forget to comment and leave your own suggestions for me! Have a great D-day and keep alphablogging.