Posts tagged ‘horror’
THE WAR OF THE WORLDS
COMPARING THE 1953 MOVIE TO THE NOVEL
Of the movies two movies made using
the novel as a guide in 1953 and 2005, my favorite is the movie made in 1953.
Yet that is the movie, of the two, which least resembles the book.
The premise of the movie is an
alien invasion from Mars. This nails down where the invasion originates, of
course, the title serves the same purpose. I say this premise follows the novel
for an alien invasion could come from any planet or any solar system.
One nice touch in the 2005 movie
was to include Gene Barry who plays Dr. Clayton Forrester and Ann Robinson who
plays Sylvia van Buren in the 1953 movie as the grandparents at the end of the
2005 movie.
To begin with, the Martians arrive at
what, at first, appears to be a meteorite. After a short period of time men
guarding the object detect a unscrewing at the top of the object and a device
appearing which destroys the men. What is never explained is how the Martian
machines make their exit with only the small aperture revealed.
In the published description of the
movie, it is said that heat rays are used to cause destruction. But if memory
serves, there were two types of rays. One was a heat ray which caused most of
the destruction and set fires. But initially a ray was used causing men and
vehicles to disappear and is described as a ray which destroys the energy which
joins molecules. Hence, the ray causes whatever it hits to fall apart.
Another difference between the book
to both movies is that the entire planet is under attack. In the novel only
England is involved, the home of H. G. Wells.
In the 1953 movie the machines
arrive already constructed whereas in the novel, upon arrival of the cylinders,
the machines must be firs constructed. Also, the machines in the movie do not
appear as described in the book. The machines in the novel walk on three
extended legs whereas the machines in the movie appear to hover with the theory
that they are manipulating gravity. The machines in the movie are protected by
a force-field. In the novel they can be destroyed.
In both movies and the novel there
is a scene where the characters are hiding in a farmhouse. In the 1953 movie
the characters escape with a rag soaked with Martian blood. In the novel and
the 2005 movie what occurs in the farmhouse is similar with the final result
being the death of a character.
The blood collected and analyzed
reveals that the Martians are anemic and have a poorly developed immune system
which leads to their demise. This failure for the Martians to survive is true
in both movies and the book.
Here is a link to the published version of the 1953 movie.
The War
of the Worlds (1953 film) – Wikipedia
ANNOTHER STORY ACCEPTED
A break from my The War of the Worlds posts.
I just recently learned that YELLOW MAMA has accepted my short story, The Price of Success, for publication. It will appear in issue #106 on October 15, 2024. This is a first for me for this story has been previously published.
I want to share with writers who follow my blog of some trends I have notice concerning publishers.
More and more publishers are considering and accepting previously published work from writers. If you own the rights. Also, many publishers now accept simultaneous submissions. In the past you would submit a work and sometimes wait nearly a year to be told whether it was accepted or rejected. From some publishers, you would never hear from them. Of course, this means rejection. But in the meantime, you sat on the work waiting for an answer. Now you can submit your work to multiple publishers at the same time which increases the odds of getting published and can serve to reduce the waiting time.
Finally, another recent trend is the existence of podcasts looking for stories.
I hope this discussion helps writers to find a home for their work.
I must mention that the setting for The Price of Success is Baldwin’s Book Barn. This was my second published short story which took place at this location. My next post will discuss this fantastic store of used books.
THE HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY: HORROR SHORT STORY, PART IX
HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY: HORROR SHORT STORY, PART THE IX
This story was published by Necrology Shorts in January 2010.
THE HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY
As I sat there waiting, I felt a strange fear creep into my bones as the waves gently caressed the shore. All was quiet; most of the campers were fast asleep. Would anything happen? Of course not, that is the stuff of movies!
The moon illuminated the water’s surface. I was tired, drowsy and falling asleep when I noticed a peculiar glow in the water. “The legend is not a legend!” A glow rose from the murky depths, two red-hot coals just below the water’s surface. Next, the unimaginable. The surface of the water parted and what greeted my eyes was unspeakable. The figure appeared a mockery of the human form. And the eyes, they appeared as two suns. I wanted to look away but couldn’t. Suddenly jets of flame exploded from those orbs of doom and blinded me. Entered my eyes, my brain.
I felt pain; I felt …
* * *
A local newspaper published an article telling of campers killed at Lake Harmony. After four years, the incident was only a vague memory, until …
THE END
THE HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY: HORROR STORY, PART VIII
This story was published by Necrology Shorts in January 2010.
THE HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY
I could not believe that circumstances were putting me in the one place I felt evil that evil might lurk. How could I tell my wife we should not go because of a legend I read in an old book? I admonished myself, “Get a grip. Too much Stephen King.”
We arrived at our campsite. It was a beautiful June day, yet I greeted our arrival with apprehension. We were camping with friends who occupied site 35. The next morning promised to be a day of adventure.
After a breakfast of blueberry pancakes with berries picked from bushes growing on the edge of the lake, we went boating. The afternoon was spent hiking along a trail surrounded by mountain laurel in full bloom. It had been a truly wonderful day. After a campfire, we said good night to our friends as they went to their tent. It was late and time to turn in. I told my wife to take our two girls and get ready for bed, that I would watch the embers of our dying fire.
THE HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY: HORROR SHORT STORY, PART VII
This story was published by Necrology Shorts in January 2010.
THE HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY
Out of curiosity and fear, I searched the internet when I returned home to see what areas of Pennsylvania the Lenape Indians had occupied, and if that area included the location of Lake Harmony State Park. The tribe had indeed lived in the area of the park. I also looked up the history of the park. The lake where we camped was man made. A dam was built to allow a lake to form. I remembered that, from our campsite at site 34 we could see two islands. Could those islands have once been the tops of hills? Could these be the hills that were once the home of The Ancients? Was it more than a legend? If these hills were indeed the home of The Ancients and the area had been flooded, then the tons of earth that trapped them would have eventually washed away.
I had these thoughts during the fall of 2001 and could not get the possibilities out of my mind. My mind considered powers unknown, evil unimagined. We were planning a camping trip to Lake Harmony the next year. My wife was to make the arrangements, and unknowingly, chose to camp on the four-year anniversary of the last unexplained event.
THE HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY: HORROR SHORT STORY, PARTVI
This story was published by Necrology Shorts in January 2010.
THE HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY
I carefully closed the book and felt a shiver as I recalled some newspaper accounts of horrible occurrences that happened at Lake Harmony remembering that they took place at four year intervals.
* * *
The latest incident occurred on June 12, 1998. A group of four friends came to the campsite where we enjoyed camping. Pitching their tent, they settled in for a few days of hiking and fishing. It was reported that they were to leave the morning of June 13. The morning of June 13 arrived and the surrounding campsites awoke to find that site 35 was empty. The men were gone, along with their belongings. They were never seen again. They had disappeared with no word to their family or friends. I remembered in the article about the fishermen, an earlier incident was mentioned of a horrifying occurrence that had never been solved.
It was June 12, 1994. A family of four, a mom, dad and two young sons were camping at site 34. On the morning of their departure, no one stirred. Finally, the time to vacate the site arrived and their tent was still standing with all their gear spread around the campsite. A ranger stopped at the campsite and called out, “Time to pack-up and leave”. There was no response. He shouted that he was opening the tent and did so. The poor fellow lost his mind with the sight that greeted him. The mother and boys were there, murdered and horribly mutilated. The father was gone and suspected of the crimes. He was never found.
THE HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY: HORROR SHORT STORY, PART IV
This story was published by Necrology Shorts in January 2010.
THE HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY
Legend continued that one day Megwa, a young buck who wanted to prove his worth as a warrior, made a discovery that chilled him to the bone and sent the other warriors on a mission to destroy The Ancients. Megwa had a best friend with whom he shared his childhood. They would hunt together and talk about their future and their place in the tribe. His friend, whose name was Sharak, had suffered a grave misadventure as a young boy. Once their camp was attacked and Sharak, then a boy of six, ran from his shelter and was immediately clubbed by one of the invaders. He was thought dead, and placed among the bodies of his family and friends, but he soon stirred. The surviving tribe members nursed him back to health. He regained his strength, became a warrior, and went on to avenge the massacre of his parents killed by the invaders, but he always carried a reminder of that fateful attack. His forehead was indented with a deep crease that became a sign of his bravery and a reminder of his loss.
The time of the glowing eyes of The Ancients came once again and, again, four members of the tribe were missing. One of the missing Lenape natives was Sharak. Megwa felt a deep loss, an emptiness in his heart and a sorrow that would not leave. He grieved for his friend. He did not know where he had gone or what had happened to him.
Everyone knew that The Ancients must have been warriors in the past, for the entrance of their cave was adorned with skulls, the trophies of past battles. One day, not long after Sharak disappeared, Megwa was walking by The Ancients’ cave when he suddenly stopped and peered closely at the entrance. There among the other skulls was a new gleaming skull that he recognized, a skull with a deep gash in the forehead. He reported this discovery to the elders of the tribe and it was decided that The Ancients must be destroyed. The tribe knew they must wait until the eyes of The Ancients began to glow. That was when they were at their weakest, and feared contact with the outside world. With their eyes glowing like those of wild animals, they peered from their cave and would not venture beyond its entrance
THE HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY: HORROR SHORT STORY, PART V
This story was published by Necrology Shorts in January 2010.
THE HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY
Time went by, but Megwa never forgot his mission, his act of vengeance. One day a member of the tribe reported that the eyes of The Ancients had taken on the red glow. They knew the time would soon come, the special night. The night when the eyes of The Ancients would glow; glow as coals in the night. This was the night they could be destroyed. For once this night was over, they would regain new strength, new vigor as four more members of the tribe would be gone forever. As the eyes of The Ancients glowed their fiercest, the natives crept onto the hill above their cave, and with the earth already loosened from their previous night’s work, caused a deafening roar as the loosened earth cascaded down the hill and covered the entrance of the cave. The Ancients were never seen again.
As time passed, The Ancients’ story became legend. Yet there were times when eerie moans, like the earth itself was in pain, would come from the area of the two hills which the legend had described as the home of The Ancients. As time blurred the story of The Ancients, the haunting moans persisted; credited to the wind howling through the narrow valley between the two hills.
THE HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY: HORROR SHORT STORY, PART III
This story was published by Necrology Shorts in January 2010.
THE HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY
The story began: there is a legend among the local natives of a group of men they called The Ancients. The Ancients were given this name because, when the first Lenape natives entered the land that would one day become Pennsylvania, The Ancients already inhabited one of the many caves in the area. No one knew their tribe or where they came from and The Ancients offered no information. They were wise old men possessing strange powers. There were four, all men.
The natives avoided their company out of fear and respect. They observed that The Ancients would age considerably over a four-year course. They noticed another curious aspect of their appearance: as they aged their eyes would redden. The Ancients’ eyes reddened to a point at which they would glow. As the visage of their age increased so, did the glow of their eyes, when a curious event would occur. Four members of the Lenape tribe would go missing. Coincidentally, The Ancients, suddenly shed the mantle of approaching death; their faces now appeared almost youthful.
THE HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY: HORROR SHORT STORY, PART III
This story was published by Necrology Shorts in January 2010.
THE HORROR AT LAKE HARMONY
The story began: there is a legend among the local natives of a group of men they called The Ancients. The Ancients were given this name because, when the first Lenape natives entered the land that would one day become Pennsylvania, The Ancients already inhabited one of the many caves in the area. No one knew their tribe or where they came from, and The Ancients offered no information. They were wise old men possessing strange powers. There were four, all men.
The natives avoided their company out of fear and respect. They observed that The Ancients would age considerably over a four-year course. They noticed another curious aspect of their appearance: as they aged their eyes would redden. The Ancients’ eyes reddened to a point at which they would glow. As the visage of their age increased so, did the glow of their eyes, when a curious event would occur. Four members of the Lenape tribe would go missing. Coincidentally, The Ancients, suddenly shed the mantle of approaching death; their faces now appeared almost youthful.
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