Folks, I’m pleased to announce that I have a guest post over at Crackle.com. Every month, Crackle.com offers free movies and webisodes for you to enjoy on the web. As part of their Halloween celebration, they’re offering a ton of free horror movies for fans to watch.

Published in 1879, Bram Stoker’s Dracula was one of the reasons why I was drawn to the horror genre. Even though it was published in 1879, I felt it was brilliant the way Stoker wove letters and newspaper clippings together to show the now-infamous characters of Jonathan and Mina Harker, Dr. Steward, Arthur Holmwood, Lucy Westerna and (of course) Dracula.

Needless to say, I am not the only one who has enjoyed the book. Reprinted several times in multiple languages, Dracula has been heralded as a literary classic that’s been discussed, dissected and enjoyed. Its story has been made into comics and graphic novels, movies and animated features; its characters have been reused and reinvented so many times that they’ve become iconic.

Top Cow Productions, Inc. announced it will publish the first, complete story arc of William Harms Impaler in a new trade paperback that will debut this October, and then will launch a new series for the property in December.

The first three issues of the series were initially published by Top Cow parent company Image Comics in 2006-2007, but was never completed. The Impaler Vol. 1 trade paperback collects those three issues plus the final, three never-before-seen issues of the initial story arc. Top Cow was so excited by this series that it also greenlighted a new ongoing to follow the collection.

Another round of the Flash Fire Mini-Reviews is here!

This week we are talking about one of the most well-known characters in horror. Dracula has made appearances in fiction, movies, comics and games. He has been re-imagined numerous times and always comes back for more. New concepts about the character are always being invented and new fans discover the character every year.

What follows are just a few of the many, many Dracula influenced products available today. The original novel with a twist, some games and a couple of movies make up this set of mini-reviews…

Dracula has held our fascination for centuries, and yet his life, and his death remain a mystery to us. So it is only natural for him to star in many novels and games, making the hunt for him a focal point in the plot. The novel The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova, features the history of Dracula. The fear and danger of searching for him are wonderfully depicted in this novel, keeping the reader glued to its pages.

Dracula’s Revenge is an adventure-style board game, the first in the Gothica line of games from Human Head Studios. Set in Victorian England, Dracula’s Revenge takes you into the heart of the conflict between vampire hunter and hunter.

This book had much in the way of promise for a good science fiction romp through the horror of Dracula. Unfortunately, it’s promise falls onto it’s face about halfway through.
We meet Joe Bodenland, who is a un-renowned scientist, working on a type of time machine that will suspend an item indefinitely at one moment in time. His goal, to use this for storing Nuclear Waste. His wife, Mina, isn’t as enthusiastic about it as he seems to be, in fact, we find that Joe is so absorbed in his project he even misses his son’s wedding.

Matt tells us about his work in RPGs, video games, comics, fiction and other projects. We talk a little bit about Brave New World, Deadlands and freelance writing as well.