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.
Italian maestro Lucio Fulci could make a pretty decent film in any genre you’d care to name, and as fun as his horror gorefests are, some of my favorite movies of his fall more into the giallo or thriller genre. One of these is the subject of today’s post, and I feel very strongly that … More Movies: The Psychic (1977)
Richard Laymon, who passed away in 2001, was a prolific writer of “splatterpunk” novels, a couple of which were put out by Leisure Books in the 1990s. Along with other contemporary writers like Jack Ketchum and Edward Lee, Laymon laced his stories with extreme violence and gore, as well as graphic sexual content that verged … More Books: Come Out Tonight by Richard Laymon
Hälsningar, minions! Today we’re delving into the surreal and arty waters of the Ingmar Bergman oeuvre, and even though I’m gonna try REALLY hard to not make any Swedish Chef jokes, I’m not going to promise anything, because y’all know how I roll. Hour of the Wolf (or Vargtimmen in Swedish) was released in 1968, and is probably … More Movies: Hour of the Wolf (1968)
I’ve been a huge fan of Guillermo del Toro since the first film of his that I saw, which was either The Devil’s Backbone from 2001, or Pan’s Labyrinth from 2006. There’s just something about his particular vision of the beautiful grotesque, his sense of wonder that comes across in his stories even when they’re … More Movies: Cronos (1993)
I had been itching to get around to seeing Ghostwatch for ages, since I had long noticed it on so many “Best Haunted House Movie” lists and since I had heard a little bit about the uproar it caused when it was aired. If you don’t know, Ghostwatch was broadcast by the BBC on Halloween night 1992, and it … More Movies: Ghostwatch (1992)
Thanks once again to my Kindle Unlimited subscription, I happened to randomly come across a fantastic novella by an author I was not previously familiar with, and goddammit, I just love when that happens. Canadian writer Duncan Ralston has penned several novels and novellas, and some short fiction anthologies like Gristle & Bone and Video … More Books: Woom by Duncan Ralston
Like many of the movies I end up watching and covering on this series, I can’t remember exactly how I first heard of 2017’s Super Dark Times, an independent movie that not only marked the directorial debut of cinematographer Kevin Phillips, but managed to scoop up the H.R. Giger Award for Best Feature Film at … More Movies: Super Dark Times (2017)
Stir of Echoes is one of those horror movies I always bring up when someone asks me what I think some of the most underrated horror films of all time are; directed by David Koepp and starring Kevin Bacon, the 1999 movie is based pretty loosely on Richard Matheson’s short novel, which came out in … More Book vs. Movie: Stir of Echoes
Released in 1896 (!!!), directed by the über-famous George Méliès, and considered the first horror film ever made (even though it’s more funny than scary), The Haunted Castle (French title Le Manoir du diable, ooh la la) was a massive influence on early horror films, particularly the German expressionist classics and the subsequent Universal films in the 1930’s. … More Silent Movie Watchalong: The Haunted Castle (1896)
Man, have I mentioned how much I love it when I pick a book completely at random on Kindle Unlimited and it ends up being one of the best things I’ve read all year? If I haven’t, then I’m mentioning it now; my little horror heart is heaving with happiness. I happened to choose this … More Books: The Bell Chime by Mona Kabbani
