Jenny Ashford is a horror, true crime, and paranormal writer, graphic designer, and podcaster. Her most recent books are a three-volume true crime compilation collectively known as The Faceless Villain: A Collection of the Eeriest Unsolved Murders of the Twentieth Century. Volume One was published in 2017, Volume Two in 2018, and Volume Three in 2019. Her other books include four paranormal nonfiction books: The Unseen Hand: A New Exploration of Poltergeist Phenomena, The Mammoth Mountain Poltergeist (with Tom Ross), House of Fire and Whispers: Investigating the Seattle Demon House, and The Rochdale Poltergeist (both with Steve Mera); as well as three horror novels, Red Menace, Bellwether, and The Five Poisons; two short story collections, Hopeful Monsters and The Associated Villainies; and a graphic novel, The Tenebrist. A second edition of The Associated Villainies was published in 2019, featuring four new stories, an enhanced print layout, and an audio book version. A second edition of The Five Poisons was published in 2020. Her short stories have appeared in several anthologies, including The Nightmare Collective, History Is Dead, 2012AD, ChimeraWorld #3, and ChimeraWorld #4. Her horror blog, Goddess of Hellfire, contains writing news, short stories and articles, and her reviews and opinions on horror films and books. She also co-hosts a podcast with Tom Ross called 13 O'Clock, on which they discuss true crime, unexplained mysteries, paranormal weirdness, horror movies and books, food, and other fun, creepy topics. They recently collaborated on a 13 O'Clock cookbook. Jenny's graphic design work can be seen on everything from books and business cards to posters and packaging. She runs an online store called Gravecake selling products with her designs, and also has a board-and-card game concern called Giallo Games, which produces games based around the beloved Italian horror/crime genre, among many other themes.
Carson was drunk, but not so drunk that he didn’t know it was time to get the hell out of there. What’s-her-name—the girlfriend of the guy who owned the house—was drunk too, and she’d cornered him in one of the upstairs bedrooms. She tasted like eggnog and pine-scented aerosol spray; her panties were black with … More Fiction: Candlelight
I have to confess that I’ve always had a soft spot for the cheesy 1970s eco-horror movies I repeatedly saw on cable growing up. There was just something about the concept of an ensemble cast of usually past-their-prime actors, pitted against a series of largely woeful special effects meant to convey armies of gargantuan critters … More 70s Eco-Horror Double Feature: The Food of the Gods (1976) and Empire of the Ants (1977)
Quite by accident, today’s double feature happens to consist of two films from the UK: the 2011 classically-structured English mystery/ghost story The Awakening, and the more modern-expressionist Irish murder-demon tale from 2014, The Canal. While neither of them was particularly original plot-wise, there was a great deal to enjoy in both films, and I have few qualms … More Double Feature: The Awakening (2011) and The Canal (2014)
The 1979 film The Driller Killer is probably as well known as it is due to the fact that it was one of the most often-cited movies to appear on the UK’s infamous “video nasties” list; and in fact, according to a guy named Mike Bor, who at the time was the Principal Examiner at … More Movies: The Driller Killer (1979)
Well, today’s random pairing was really nothing to write home about, but it was enjoyable enough to write a post about, so let’s get right to it. First up, 2016’s Beyond the Gates, directed by Jackson Stewart, and winner of the midnight-movie audience award at the Los Angeles Film Festival the year it came out. The … More Double Feature: Beyond the Gates and Dead Silence
I don’t recall exactly when I was first made aware of the 2018 film Braid; I’m pretty sure I read about it on one of those periodic lists that different horror sites put up, listing “best horror movies of the 2010s” or similar, which I tend to peruse from time to time for ideas on … More Movies: Braid (2018)
Like much of the horror media that went on to make indelible impressions on me as a young horror nerd, I first heard about the Kolchak movies (and the series they spawned) when they were mentioned in Stephen King’s 1981 nonfiction book, Danse Macabre. Though I saw both of the iconic Kolchak TV films when … More Revisiting Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1972) and The Night Strangler (1973)
Not too long ago on this series, we watched the Swedish-Danish witchcraft classic Häxan, and today we’re continuing the Swede theme with the spooky 1921 drama The Phantom Carriage (known in Swedish as Körkarlen), directed by and starring Victor Sjöström. This is really a beautiful film, with innovative ghost effects for the day and a surprisingly modern narrative structure, … More Silent Movie Watchalong: The Phantom Carriage (1921)
New Hampshire-based author John Durgin is a very new face on the horror scene, having co-founded Livid Comics only two years ago, in 2020, and publishing a Christmas horror comic series called Jol around the same time. According to his bio, he was a huge fan of Stephen King and had long dreamed of becoming … More Books: The Cursed Among Us by John Durgin
I may have brought it up a time or two before, but I have a bit of a fascination with film adaptations of Stephen King’s works. I haven’t seen all of them by any means (considering that would probably take more time than I have remaining on Earth), but I’ve seen a decent chunk of … More Revisiting Stephen King’s Storm of the Century (1999)
