Newsletter for March Now Out; 'Renfield' Trailor; UFO Museum

A cartoon alien piloting a flying saucer.

Credit: Pixabay

Finally, the newsletter, “Night Creatures' Call”, for March, is out! I released it just last night, so, those of you who subscribed to it, check your inboxes. If you're not subscribed you can do so for free here. In this issue, I talk about my newest story that I'm revising for my upcoming book of short stories, "Bad Apps". I talk about the story’s characterisation and its tentative title. So, what is that title? You have to subscribe to the newsletter to find out! If you subscribe to me by April 10th, I'll make sure you get the current issue in your inbox. That’s it for the news about the new issue of my author newsletter. Now for some other science fiction and fantasy news that I’ve found of interest! Well, most of it.

‘Renfield’ Trailer

I saw one of the trailers for the movie, "Renfield", over the weekend. This movie tells the story of Universal’s Dracula and his hunt for human blood in modern day New Orleans, only it's told through the eyes of Renfield (played by Nicholas Hoult), the Count’s mad, ghoulish assistant. However, in this movie, Renfield doesn't stay a sinister madman for long. He actually ditches Dracula to team up with a cop (Awkwafina) to slay him before he can take too many more lives.

The sets to “Renfield”, particularly for Dracula's castle interior, look convincingly gothic. The makeup job looks really good on Nicolas Cage which makes him resemble not only Bela Lugosi’s depiction of the character but Lugosi himself. However, the movie looks too much as if the producers couldn’t decide whether to make it a spoof (with maybe too much snark on Hollywood’s part) or a straight horror movie simply sprinkled with humour (like the 1980s "Lost Boys"). It even looks like it could be too much of an excuse to simply make another cop shoot-out movie. So, I think I'll save my money and just wait for it to come out on video. "Renfield" premieres in theatres April 14th.

UFO Museum

Since December, Davis California has had its own UFO pop-up museum. Named Encounters UFO Xperience, the museum is located at the University Mall across the street from the UC Davis campus. It runs through the month of April but only on certain days of the week which are listed on the museum's website. The museum features exhibits related to UFO sightings and aliens in pop culture. Also, it holds events such as pop music concerts based on or related to the subject matter. Music genres include electronica, funk and punk. It even features both classic and contemporary science fiction books! And most super of all, it's interactive! So, you might be able to experience what it's like to be abducted by beings from another planet via a simulation!

I haven't checked out this museum yet, but I'll be sure too before the month is out. I may even have a feature post about it here. So, if you're in the Sacramento area be sure to check out Encounters UFO Xperience. If you're not in the area, perhaps plan a trip to here during one of April’s beautiful spring days!

That's all the sci fi and fantasy news I have for you this week. Be here Wednesday for another Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop!

So, will you be subscribing to "Night Creatures' Call", seeing "Renfield" or checking out the Encounters UFO Xperience pop-up museum?

Until next time . . .

Book-To-Movie: ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’

Credit: Wikimedia Commons I apologise for posting outside our regular post-day which is late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. However, I got behind on several things last week and so had to postpone the post to today. I’ve been a reader of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books ever since I was 11. What I’ve always liked so much about the series is that, like a good horror story, the stories often take place in dark settings and involve bizarre cases. Conan Doyle’s novel, “The Hound of the Baskervilles”, definitely contains these elements. It’s a detective story that crosses over into the gothic horror genre. Several movie adaptations of the novel have been made that go as far back as a 1915 German silent film. In 1959 Hammer Studios released a version starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. As much as I’m a fan of the Hammer horror films, I have not seen that one yet. The only one that I’ve seen so far is the 1939 adaptation starring that other big name in classic Bri

Book-To-Movie: ‘I Am Legend’

A vampire similar to the ones in 2008's "I Am Legend" which starred Will Smith. Credit: Pixabay.com It’s time for another Book-To-Movie review! In a Book-To-Movie, I review a book and its movie adaptations. This month’s book and its movies based on it is I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. While vampires were no longer in in the American pop culture of the the 1950s, science fiction horror in general was. So Matheson’s I Am Legend brought the scientificising of vampires into the pulp literary scene of that era. Not too long after, in the early ‘60s, the first of three book-to-movie adaptions appeared and was renamed The Last Man On Earth which starred Vincent Price. The other two were The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston in the ‘70s and I Am Legend starring Will Smith in the 2001s. Even though each one debunked the myth of the vampire as a supernatural being, each had its own depiction of the creature. ‘I Am Legend’, The Book Set in a near post-apocalyptic fu

Book-To-Movie: Stephen King’s 'The Raft'

Credit: Pixabay.com It's the third Saturday of the month and so that means it's time for another Book-To-Movie ! In a Book-To-Movie we review a book and its movie adaptation. One of the reasons I as a horror fan don’t read a lot of Stephen King’s work is because most of it consists of novels that go more than 400 pages. I have a short attention span when it comes to reading, ironically since I consider myself an avid reader, and so I normally won’t read a work that is much more than the equivalent to a 350-page mass market paperback. The other reason why I don’t read a lot of King’s work is that, as literary scholars will tell you, a lot of his writing is poor. However, he does have some good writing in his works, especially his earlier stuff, including his short horror tales. So if I read anything by Stephen King it’s usually his short stories or novellas. One of his collections I’ve read is Skeleton Crew which includes some of his good, or at least

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