‘NetNet Mega-Size: news and reviews of new horror books, shorts, movies & TV; true ghost stories; an original song; paranormal nerd appreciation; 19th century ghost nonfiction; bigfoot, an invisible bird, a puppy named Weasley and more.

Okay, Gang. I imagine you’ve all noticed that I haven’t done a #NetNet roundup for a while. I have been grabbing some favorites since the last installment, and I just found a bunch more when I finally got caught up on my blog reading. There’s a lot of good stuff here, so I’ll add minimal commentary and just let you explore at will. If there’s no text link, click the pic to be taken to the post.

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FROM MATTHEW ALAN BENNETT, A GORGEOUSLY BLUESY ORIGINAL: RIVER CITY LIGHTS

You might as well listen while you look over the rest of my offerings. (Just remember to right click the links and open a new tab or window, in case WordPress chooses to ignore my instructions … again.)

Here’s the link to Matthew’s post about the backstory of the song.

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FROM EVA HALLOWEEN – 9 WINTER HORROR TALES TO KEEP YOU WARM

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FROM PATRICK KELLER: 15 REASONS TO BEFRIEND A PARANORMAL NERD TODAY!

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FROM TIM PRASIL: A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF 19TH-CENTURY NON-FICTION ABOUT GHOSTS

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FROM BRITT REINTS: INTERVIEW WITH A “PROFESSIONAL SCARER”

Margee wants to scare the crap out of you. And I don’t mean in that airy-fairy “scare you by pushing you out of your comfort zone” way.

I mean she wants you to scream because you think a zombie clown might be coming after you with a chainsaw.

Figuring out how to scare you is Margee Kerr’s job – she works for Pittsburgh’s notorious ScareHouse – and her passion. She’s researched, experimented, and earned advanced degrees on the subject.

Read the rest here: What Happiness Looks Like: Dr. Margee Kerr, Professional Scarer

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FROM HUNTER SHEA, WHO HAS BEEN A BUSY GUY: 

1) A thought provoking blog: Is Evil Real? An Exorcism In America

2) A new THRILLER novel, out from Pinnacle in paperback: The Montauk Monster

3) News on ANOTHER (horror) novel that will be available April 1st, The Waiting. Apparently this ghost story is based on true events. Here’s an excerpt and here’s a review.

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FROM ACADIA EINSTEIN: REVIEW OF THE CURSE OF OAK ISLAND (ON HISTORY CHANNEL)

Acadia’s piece convinced me to give it a shot, and it turns out I really like it. There may be hope for this type of program.

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FROM CONNER THE DOG (COMPANION TO EMILY EINOLANDER): REVIEW OF INSIDIOUS CHAPTER 2

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FROM JOSEPH PINTO: PUBLICATION IN MIDNIGHT ECHO, OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE AUSTRALIAN HORROR WRITERS ASSOCIATION

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Apparently it’s an all-ghost issue … and you all know how I love my ghosts. Here’s the link to his announcement at his blog.

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FROM HALLOWEEN GIRL: A REPORT ON AN APPEARANCE BY BIGFOOT “EXPERT,” RICK DYER & HIS “BIGFOOT CORPSE”

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FROM JONATHAN JANZ, WHO HAS ALSO BEEN A BUSY GUY:

1) Publication in Piercing The Darkness: A Charity Anthology for the Children’s Literacy Initiative (You’ve GOT to see the company he’s keeping these days.)

2)  A post that will make you say awww: Introducing the Sixth Member of Our Family: Weasley the Puppy

3) A new novel – this one a vampire western: Dust Devils

AND FROM ERIN SWEET AL-MEHAIRI – WHO CAN MAKE ME WANT TO READ A BOOK LIKE NO OTHER CAN – A REVIEW OF DUST DEVILS BY JONATHAN JANZ 

UPDATE: SHE FINISHED THE BOOK AND POSTED THE FINAL REVIEW AND AN INTERVIEW WITH JANZ – READ IT HERE 🙂

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FROM NINA D’ARCANGELA: A ROMANTIC STORY – THE BLOODY VALENTINE 

Can you feel it? My heart? It is beating solely for you; so strong – so swift; the rapid pump pulsing ever so swiftly through me.  My body pressed so close to your own; my soft fetid breath scampers across your sweet creamy skin.

Read the rest here: A Heart For Valentine’s Day

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FROM RAY YANEK, WHO GETS TWO SPOTLIGHTS FOR HIS RECENT BLOGS:

1) This one for being both timely and helpful: He’s a Character All Right … or at least I hope so. (It’s a great template for creating characters for fiction.)

2)  This one for just great writing in A Newbie Guide to the Digital Scent of Comic Books

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FROM CHRISTY, AT GHOSTS & GHOULS: ANOTHER GOOD TRUE-GHOST-STORY SUBMISSION

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FROM MICHAEL THOMAS-KNIGHT: THE TOP 5 HORROR MOVIE REMAKES

This is an elegant post, even though my favorite is only an honorable mention.

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OOPS, EVA GETS ANOTHER ONE: 5 GREAT HORROR FILMS BY FEMALE DIRECTORS

Read: Women in Horror: 5 Films to Watch on Netflix Instant

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FROM CRACKED.COM: 5 DISTURBING OLD-TIMEY ADS OBVIOUSLY CREATED BY ALIENS

Yes, the topic is a good one, but it was the actual writing that had me in near tears.

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Is the song done playing yet? I’ve saved the videos for last, so I wouldn’t cut that short.

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FROM MICHAEL LAIMO: 3 TEASER TRAILERS FOR HIS CHILLER NETWORK ADAPTATION OF DEEP IN THE DARKNESS

When I read it, back in 2004, Deep in the Darkness was one of the books that made me think, I can do this writing thing. (Wanna-be horror writers should not read Stephen King exclusively.)

See the other two here: Deep in the Darkness Movie Teasers – Coming May 2014

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AND FINALLY, FROM RANDOM VIEWING OF YOUTUBE VIDEOS, THE WORLD’S MOST BRAZENLY HIDDEN BIRD — THE COMMON POTOO

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There is no way I’m going to capture every great thing that happens in my personal web, let alone on the wider internet. The posts I feature here just happened to catch my eye. They resonated with me and whatever is going on in my life right now. And they are worth sharing.

‘NetNet

#NetNet

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wrimoprog 03/08/2014:  2 + 12 = 14/80

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‘NetNet: secret dungeon, Victorian cemetery, “giant” crab-monster, true ghost story with pic, horror / dark fiction writer & reader, and Flowers in the Attic.

EXPLORE A SECRET DUNGEON

One of my most frequent dream themes is finding a previously undiscovered room (or rooms) in the house where I live. I can’t vouch that the following story is true, but it’s SO cool if it is. Read: This Guy Moved Into a New Apartment Only to Find Something Weird Yet Amazing… (It’s really one big picture on a meme site, so I can’t share a peek.) Click though. It’s sorta awesome.

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LEARN ABOUT A BEAUTIFUL VICTORIAN-ERA CEMETERY & ITS BEES

I love that Deborah DeLong, keeper of the Romancing the Bee blog, often connects gardening and beekeeping with darker, but still beautiful, things. Read: Spring Grove Cemetery – The Victorian Way of Death.

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WATCH AN ACCIDENTAL / NATURAL HORROR SHORT FILM

I am reminded of every giant-monster movie I’ve ever seen.

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READ A TRUE GHOST STORY, COMPLETE WITH PHOTO!

Here’s a real friend of a friend story: Matthew Alan Bennett has this neighbor, see … oh just go read: Paranormal Wednesday – girl in the window.

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HORROR WRITER, MEET READER

Emily Einolander writes about beer and movies over at Craft Fear. This essay about what she gets out of horror caught my eye. Read, Why Just Eat Chicken When You Can Be One?

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READER, MEET HORROR DARK FICTION WRITER

Joanna Parypinski just made a subtle change to her blog header info; she changed the tagline to read “author of dark fiction” instead of “author of horror fiction.”  I found the thoughts that led her to make the change interesting … and familiar. I’ve been thinking along the same lines myself since the new year came on. Read: Why I Write Dark Fiction.

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REMINISCE ABOUT A NOVEL YOU PROBABLY READ BEFORE YOU SHOULD HAVE

Scoobyclue took me back to the days of my early adolescence with her piece on the wonderful/terrible Flowers in the Attic. Read: Back to the Attic. Then tell me, how old were you when you read it? (And did any of you “boys” ever read it?)

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START A NEW HOBBY: PARTICIPATE IN #HAUNTEDPHOTOAWEEK

I know. It’s a shameless plug for my own project. But it’s gonna be so much fun! Keep an eye out for creepy / eerie photo ops; play with photo editors (if you like.) Then bring the results to one of the galleries. Click the pic for more info.

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PS: Thanks, Tim Prasil, for this beauty – the first official submission to #hauntedphotoaweek:

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#haunting #hauntedphotoaweek

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There is no way I’m going to capture every great thing that happens in my personal web, let alone on the wider internet. The posts I feature here just happened to catch my eye. They resonated with me and whatever is going on in my life right now. And they are worth sharing.

‘NetNet

#NetNet

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‘NetNet: True haunted house tale, new scary short films, old eerie short films, a quote hunt, a Robert McCammon short story, Gone With the Wind, and TV updates.

READ ANOTHER TRUE HAUNTED HOUSE STORY

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Ghosts & Ghouls has posted another good first-person account of a haunting. Of course I can’t verify the story, but I do try to find well-written, plausible tales to share with you. Reader Submission: Life in a Haunted House fits the bill.

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VIEW AN EXPERTLY CURATED SET OF SCARY SHORT VIDEOS.

Eva Halloween, who features a short horror video at her blog almost every Friday night, has picked out 5 favorites. Read:  Friday Night Features: Our Top 5 Horror Shorts of 2013.

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READ A McCAMMON SHORT STORY

Robert McCammon has gifted us with a fresh short story called White. Get the link to the story, or to EPUB (for Nook) or MOBI (for Kindle) at his post: Kick the New Year off with a new short story by Robert McCammon!

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RECONSIDER A CLASSIC BOOK

I’ve recently started following an (often) irascible teacher at the blog Infinitefreetime. I always enjoy his style, but this post in particular drew me in. Since reading it, I’ve found myself thinking I should re-read Gone With the Wind with an adult’s eyes and awareness. Read: In which I don’t like liking things.

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APPRECIATE THE SENSIBILITIES OF A UNIQUE BLOGGER

Madeleine Swann finds the coolest stuff.

There are four more selections over at: The eerie and enchanting world of early cinema. (I just love that title.)

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TRACK DOWN THE ORIGINS OF THIS FANTASTIC PIECE OF WISDOM

“Watch your thoughts, they become words;
watch your words, they become actions;
watch your actions, they become habits;
watch your habits, they become character;
watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”

Aside from committing to writing more, I’ve also made resolutions to improve my health and finances in 2014.  (Like most everyone.) In early December, I started hunting for tools to help me achieve this year’s goals, and I think I’ve found a couple of good ones. (Yes, I plan to tell you about them, but that’s for another kind of post entirely.) Today I found the above quote, unattributed, in the wilds of one of those tools. 

I had to hunt it down, of course.

I found my answer at a blog called Quote Investigator. Read about the hotly debated source of the quote in: Watch Your Thoughts, They Become Words; Watch Your Words, They Become Actions (Ralph Waldo Emerson? Lao Tzu? Frank Outlaw? Gautama Buddha? Bishop Beckwaith? Father of Margaret Thatcher?)

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NOW LET’S TALK TV!

One of the things I hate about the holiday season is how my favorite shows go on hiatus.

I’m quite excited that AHS: Coven is coming back on Wednesday the 8th. I’ve been waiting for the upcoming special guest episode since I first met Misty Day in the bayou. (Yes, I suspected it would happen, even back then – ask Ogre.) Anyway, squee aside, here’s the latest teaser:

My other favorite 2013 show, The Blacklist, returns Jan. 13. (The Walking Dead isn’t coming back until Feb. 9th.)

What I’m REALLY excited about, though, is Downton Abbey which will begin its 4th season TOMORROW! (Sunday, Jan. 5th.)

Finally, this is just a heads-up that BATES MOTEL Season 2 will premiere on A&E March 3rd and is expected to have a 10 episode run.


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There is no way I’m going to capture every great thing that happens in my personal web, let alone on the wider internet. The posts I feature here just happened to catch my eye. They resonated with me and whatever is going on in my life right now. And they are worth sharing.

‘NetNet

#NetNet

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