Come See Me (and Enter The House Between Cast & Crew) at Monsterama Con: 10/27 - 10/29!

Kim-Breeding Mercer (Astrid) and Alicia Martin (Theresa) will be joining me at Monsterama, in Atlanta, from 10/27 - 10/29, along with our series sound-designer Tony Mercer (Bill Clark)!

I hope if you are in the area, or up for a road trip, you'll come to see us, and the show in two weekends!

We'll have an Enter The House Between table with books for sale/signing, and participating in panels about the show, and my -- oh my god --25-year writing career.  

We'll be giving away "Lar Lover" (!) buttons and series stickers too for those who show up first!

Don't be shy, stop on by!  

Here are the deets:  https://monsteramacon.com/

Come See Me at Fantasci this Saturday

I'll be speaking at the Fantasci Tenth Anniversary Convention in Chesapeake, Virginia, this Saturday morning, and I hope to see some readers there.  

I go on at 10:30 am to give a talk I call "The Horror Genome Project," about the horror films of the 1990s.  The premise is basically that genetic science is to horror films of the nineties (like Mimic, Deep Blue Sea, Jurassic Park, X-Files: Fight the Future, etc.) what the atomic bomb was to horror films of the fifties: a galvanizing theme and a reflection of fears about science (and scientists) run amok.

Check out the link to the party, here, and if you happen to be close-by, come and see me and watch the presentation!  I plan to attend the con from 9:00 to noon, or thereabouts and would love to say hello.

I’m really looking forward to being back at Fantasci.  It was at this show, five years ago, where I premiered my web series, The House Between (2007 – 2009), which I hope to have fully available – all 21 episodes, newly re-edited – on DVD and streaming soon.

And remember, if you work at a University or for a convention that would like to have me speak (or deliver one of my seminars, like "Savage Cinema,") contact me at Muirbusiness@yahoo.com and we'll see what we can work out.

Mad Monster Party Dispatch #2

The Dealer's Room. Notice the plush face-huggers on the far right.

Saturday was another fantastic day at The Mad Monster Party con in uptown Charlotte.  I met a lot of cool people, and caught up with some great friends and authors.

In the morning, Joel and Kathryn visited the show, and we toured the vendor's room.  Joel was in a state of nirvana looking at all the monster toys and costumes.  He had his eye on a plush face-hugger (!) and a Boris Karloff Mummy figure, but what finally got the nod from my monster-loving five-year old was a cool collectible he found at the Rebel Base table.  

Specifically, Joel saw a Mad Scientist "Dissect an Alien" Kit (Mattel; 1986), and that was absolutely the thing.  After we purchased it for him, Joel was ready to go home and start dissecting aliens with the kit's (plastic) scalpel.  I'll do a full "collectible of the week" feature on this neat toy in the days ahead, but for Joel, it was certainly the find of the day.  As I walked Kathryn and Joel out (following their tour of the horror vehicles on display...) we ran into Dee Wallace, and she was so sweet to Joel. 

Here's the thing about Dee Wallace, in case you haven't met her in person.  She has absolutely not aged a day since 1982.  Seriously.  I'm not exaggerating.  I'm not being nice or polite.  She is as beautiful and youthful and vivacious as she was in E.T. (1982), The Howling (1981) and Cujo (1983).  I kept looking for some sign that three decades had taken a toll -- any toll -- and it was impossible.  I told her she must have a picture aging in an attic somewhere.

Joel also got to meet Camden Toy, the "gentleman" who played some of the absolute creepiest characters on Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  He's a great guy, and put Joel at ease immediately, despite the huge banner of ghoulish demons behind him...

Kenny Caperton, of N.C.'s Myers House.

After Joel and Kathryn headed home, I caught up with my friend Kenny Caperton, the young gent I met in 2010 when we both appeared in the Biography Channel's Halloween movie special.

Kenny had his house in Hillsborough built to the plans and specifications of Michael Myers' famous house in the original Halloween (1978), and it is an amazing sight and a great horror enthusiast destination.

There are so many cool things about the N.C. Myers House, including Kenny's extensive collection of Halloween memorabilia, but I also love the details of the property itself.  The Myers House is out there alone, at the end of a long, isolated dirt road, on this vast parcel of land, with a great view of fields and farmland beyond.   It's...perfectly scary. As I gear up for my next web series, I'm hoping to shoot an episode at The Myers House.

Zachary Kelley and your truly, at our booth.

Another great joy yesterday was that I got to meet up and talk with Zachary Kelley, the blogger extraordinaire of The Lightning Bug's Lair.

He is such a great guy (in addition to being a great writer), and he was extremely patient with me as I tried to shoot a brief video with him.  I'm hoping to catch up with Zachary again soon, since I had forgotten we're practically neighbors here in the South.  That happens when you get to be middle-aged like me...

Today is the last day of the Con, and I'm hoping to sell a few more copies of Horror Films of the 1990s or The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi.

If you come  to Mad Monster Party, come visit me at our booth!

Mad Monster Party Dispatch #1

So...I had the tremendous pleasure of attending the Mad Monster Party in Uptown Charlotte from 5:00 to 10:00 pm last night, and I'll be back there from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm today.   

So far, it's been awesome. I've sold a few books, made some bucks, and eyed up some new collectibles.  The people in costume have been amazing and original: everything from Edwina Scissorhands (above) to the Ghostbusters, to... Frankenhookers.

In the span of a few hours, I also got to see at close range David Prowse, Brad Dourif, Tony Todd, Angus Scrimm and Dee Wallace.  They all look terrific, and I'm going to see if I can get a photo today of Joel with Mr. Scrimm, saying "Booooyy!" to him.  

That may scar Joel, so I don't know...

I was also able to catch up with some bloggers, readers, authors and friends during the course of the evening.  I saw Jane and Josef (all the way from Iceland!) and Deborah at my table. I even got to chat with Lance Henriksen on the phone for about ten minutes, which was cool beyond measure.

My camera batteries died (d'oh!) before I could take a lot of photos, so I'm stocking up on batteries today.

I'll have more pics to upload tomorrow!  If you're in town, stop by my table in the vendor's room and say hello!

Come See Me at the Mad Monster Party...

Join us!

I'll be a guest at this weekend's Mad Monster Party horror convention in uptown Charlotte, North Carolina. 

I'll be there all three days of the con (Friday night, Saturday and Sunday), so if you can, drop by and chat me up, or buy a signed copy of Horror Films of the 1990s (or other JKM books).  

I'm especially excited about the event because I'll get to meet some long-time readers, and also because it is my son Joel's first convention...and I can't wait to see what he thinks of all the craziness.    

Check out the Mad Monster site here.