In celebration of 85 years in print, Weird Tales magazine has complied a list of the 85 weirdest storytellers from the past 85 years.  The list includes some of my favorite writers like Ray Bradbury, Roald Dahl, Kurt Vonnegut, and Joyce Carol Oates. The list includes other weirdos such as cartoonist/writer Edward Gorey, filmmaker Tim Burton, and artist Andy Warhol.  Like any list, it’s easy to get riled up about who is and is not included.  However, I think Weird Tales has done a pretty good job.

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My birthday is just around the corner, so I may be adding this to my wishlist: A hand-illustrated portrait of myself as a zombie by illustrator Rob Sacchetto. You send him a jpeg and he draws your “inner zombie,” rendered as an 8 x 10, full-color hard copy suitable for framing.

It costs US$80 or US$160 for couples … so maybe I’ll wait to get my wedding photo zombified for my anniversary this fall.

Decisions, decisions.

Link >

Also check out Rob’s free zombie comic “Fearless Frankie” (PDF)

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One of my favorite all-time movies is “John Carpenter’s The Thing” (buy) — which is a remake of the classic 1951 film “The Thing from Another World” (buy), both of which are based on the great novella “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell Jr. — so I don’t have a built-in bias against all movie remakes. But every day seems to yield fresh news about Hollywood do-overs, which makes me wonder if we haven’t reached a saturation point.

Case in point: Fox just released the poster for “The Day The Earth Stood Still,” which is due for a mid-December release.  I enjoyed Steven Spielberg’s “War of the Worlds” (buy) remake (well, up until the dreadfully schmaltzy ending), but I’m not sure I want to see Klaatu and Gort get an extreme CG make-over.

And the trend seems to be accelerating both in sheer volume and in speed.  “The Hulk” was a fun popcorn flick, but re-imagining a five-year-old film is a little crazy.  How far off are we from annual do-overs?

And if you Google any successful ’80s or ’90s genre film, there’s a good chance a remake is in the works, on the drawing board, rumored to be on the drawing board or is at least being discussed.

(more…)

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Podcasts, like those featured on Well Told Tales, pair gripping stories with talented actors. This idea is the modern incantation of the old-time radio plays prevalent in the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s.

Many of those radio plays are available free online. You can check out Orson Welle’s infamous War of the World’s broadcast, a version of Shirley Jackson’s eerie story The Lottery, or choose from a variety of classic Vincent Price radio shows.

There are numerous websites that offer free downloads of old-time radio shows including www.radiolovers.com and www.oldtimeradiofans.com.

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Sad news: Movie monster/makeup maestro Stan Winston has died at the age of 62.

The L.A. Times has a nice photo gallery of his creations. I particularly loved his work on John Carpenter’s “The Thing” — which I think represents the high-water mark of pre-CGI special effects.

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Dwight L. MacPherson, the writer of “A Zombie’s Tale,” has just posted a preview of the upcoming “M-Theory” No. 1 comic at the Image Comics Web site.

Billed as “the greatest pulp science-fiction adventure of our time,” the preview certainly looks promising.

From Dwight’s posting: “In this thrilling premier episode, a government scientist receives a startling transmission of extraterrestrial origin, a promising college student makes a terrifying discovery, and a group of deep space explorers encounters a shocking nemesis at the outer limits of our galaxy!”

I dig the retro, EC Comic-inspired cover.

Check out the preview >

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Matthew Wayne Selznick is a podcasting pioneer. His “Brave Men Run” thriller was the first novel released simultaneously in paperback, free audio podcast and five — yes, five — e-book formats. All DRM-free.

And on July 13, a brand-new paperback edition of “Brave Men Run” — which is about the “Sovereign Era,” when people with super physical and psychic powers suddenly appear — will be released by Swarm Press.

Selznick will celebrate with a day-long streaming video “web-a-thon” — with hourly updates and special book-related content — to help propel the book to the top of the Amazon.com charts.

We always like to see podcast authors do well in print (see Scott Sigler), so we’ll be tuning in and plunking down to buy the paperback.

Check Matt’s site for more info.

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When I write screenplays, I use either Final Draft or a yellow legal pad and a sharp pencil (… and then Final Draft.)

But I just stumbled across this promising new site, scripped.com, which provides wannabe screenwriters another (free!) option — a secure, online application to write their script — and I think I may give it a try.

The interface and formatting seem pretty good from my quick spin through the app. I do get a bit hinky about not having my script files on my local computer, but l have fully embraced a bunch of Google apps and it would be nice to access my script from anywhere on any computer.

I’ll let you know how it goes, and if anyone has any experience with scripped.com, let us know what you think.

(And no, this is not an ad. I don’t know anyone from scripped.com and Well Told Tales doesn’t endorse any product … except maybe the iPhone if Steve Jobs want to ship us a case of unlocked 16GB freebies.)

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In today’s A.D.D. world, it’s not easy to sit through long-form content on the Internet. But one huge exception is Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone.”

Episodes from the first three seasons of the greatest series to ever grace television are now available for your streaming pleasure at CBS.com.

Everyone has their favorites — and I would have to think long and hard to pick my top 10 — but here are a few on my to-watch (again) list over the next few days:

• Time Enough At Last (Too bad he didn’t have audio stories)
• I Shot An Arrow Into The Air
• Shadow Play
• The Howling Man

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Film has the Oscar, music has the Grammy and speculative fiction podcasting has The Parsec Award.

And it just so happens that Parsec nominations are now open.

So, um, if you like us — if you really like us — it wouldn’t hurt to click on over to their site and nominate Well Told Tales for the Best Speculative Fiction Magazine or Anthology Podcast award and/or the Best Speculative Fiction Story (Short Form) (mention your particular favorite story in the comments.)

It’s not like we’re clearing space in front of our big picture window for a major award or anything. It would be an honor just to be nominated.

Enjoy this profanity-laced promo from podcast novel big-shots Scott Sigler and J.C. Hutchins:
Play promo (warning: explicit)

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