The blog of author Stacy Kingsley - Stacy Kingsley

Flatline

3/30/2015

Decomposition. Dying. Death. Dust. Disappear.

Many people in my life have thought me a morbid person, focusing mostly on death and dying and decomposition and the bad. In reality I hate death. I think dying is an unfair part of life. I know one day all the people I love will fall ill and pass away or get hit by some random bus or maybe disappear without a trace only to leave me questioning what happened. Most humans have a fear of death, appropriately, since we don't know what, if anything, comes after. Death is the end of life, death is the end of everything.

The dying are often afraid because of the same reasons the living are afraid, they don't know what happens after. Then there are those who have accepted their fate, are fine with dying, are happy to take deaths skeletal hand in their own and move on. It happens, when you are looking into the secretive blackness underneath that hooded cloak, dying doesn't seem too bad. A lifetime of pain, emotional or physical, isn't much fun, so when death does arrive, scythe in hand, face unreadable, hand out, it's easy to take that hand and wander away, or let go. I'm not advocating suicide, I am absolutely against the taking of your own life, I am so against it that sometimes the anger boiling to the surface about it hurts. I'm talking about those already dying, cancer patients, those suffering from the debilitating effects of Parkinsons or MS or a variety of other diseases.

I'm not trying to be morbid when I talk about death, decomposition, dying, serial killers, murder, the end of life. I'm exploring. I'm trying to understand what may never be understood.

I write horror because I'm not afraid. I explore death because I'm not scared to face it. Sometimes I'm angry because I don't understand it, but I'm not scared. I learn about evil because there is so much good in the world and yet evil gets news coverage. I want to understand.

Plus I know, when I'm flatlining on that hospital bed, I don't want to be thinking about what is happening and what happens when I die. I want to think about how I'm going to haunt any loved ones I've left behind.

Movie Review - PLAYBACK

3/27/2015

PLAYBACK is a movie that starts with a young man murdering his family and recording it on videotape. The young man Harlen, is supposedly killed by police. The movie then moves to modern time and starts with a young man making a movie based on the Harlen murders for a school report. The young man, Julian, asks his girlfriend and some of his friends to help him recreate the horror of the Harlen murders. Things take a disturbing turn when Quinn, a drugged up news worker who has been supplying Julian video equipment to use, finds a video taken by a news reporter and becomes one with the Harlen murders. Over a short period of time people die and secrets are exposed.

I'm not sure really what to say about this movie. It follows many other movies in the same venue with found footage and what happens to the people who has found the footage. It seemed a lot like V/H/S, SINISTER and a little like VIDEODROME (1983) one of the most awesome movies of all time. PLAYBACK doesn't have a whole lot of surprises.

The movie starts with the videotaping of Harlen murdering his family. After that everything else is almost predictable. I knew who was going to die, who was going to end up being the bad guy, who was the mysterious family member, and who was going to save the day. The end of the movie was also predictable. I wish there had been a tiny bit more suspense, although I will admit there were a few scares that startled me.

I can't say I would recommend this movie, but if you enjoy movies with found footage and lots of shaky camera angles then you will probably enjoy this movie. Personally I'm a little tired of movies with shaky camera angles that follow a group of people who eventually get killed on camera.

Explaining Zombies

3/26/2015

I recently met a woman who didn't understand the difference between a zombie and a survivor. Since this has never happened before I wasn't sure what to say. Carefully, I explained that a zombie was dead or undead and a survivor was someone who was living and healthy and human. That still didn't make sense to her and I found myself at a loss. I couldn't understand, especially in this day in age, how someone couldn't understand what a zombie was. I also found myself at a loss, how do you explain zombies who knows nothing about them?

One problem is that there are varying degrees of zombies, and there are different types of zombies. Zombies like those in 28 DAY and 28 WEEKS LATER are fast, furious and they still have some of their humanity, technically they aren't undead. Zombies like the ones in WARM BODIES can either be mummified horrors eating anything they can get their hands on, or they can be men and women hoping to revive themselves by falling in love and returning to the world of the living (beating hearts and all). Many zombies follow George A. Romero's zombies, slow, stupid flesh eaters, their only desire is to eat the living. It wasn't until RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD that zombies wanted brains, not just living flesh. Even Romero changed his zombies with LAND OF THE DEAD and the zombies who were remembering little bits about who they were before they died. Then there is the origin of a zombie, a living being under control of a voodoo priestess or priest.

So, I find myself at a loss. There are so many varieties of zombies, and the only description I could think of to give a survivor was "still alive," yet that seemed too light. A survivor is a living breathing human, but a zombie who can return to the land of the living (like those in WARM BODIES), aren't they survivors as well? Can a zombie really be a living, breathing human being? How would you explain a zombie and a survivor to someone who had no idea what they were?

Let's talk writing

3/21/2015

I know a lot of authors or writers have their own way of doing things. Some write with the television on, some with music, some in crowded coffee houses, some need silence, some need deep deep "I am stranded in the middle of the woods and hope a serial killer doesn't stumble on me" silence. I need a place to look at people and either a horror movie or television show on, or music to match my characters moods.

There is also the question of whether to share in a group or hide in a room. So many of us worry that if we share someone out there will either steal our work or pirate it. I personally don't worry, if someone pirated my work I would wonder why they chose THAT book and not something better (I, personally, still wonder why anyone would want to read my stuff, but I have self-esteem issues, and I'm incredibly happy when I find out that not only has someone read my stuff, but they have an opinion about it!). If someone steals my work, I know how to sue, and I know how copyright laws work, so that's covered too.

The problem for me, in regards to sharing with a group, is really twofold. I am not always good in social situations. I shake and tremble and my voice warbles when I talk. I get red and feel hot. I worry that someone will start throwing food at me because I am just that terrible. Then I worry that what I am sharing, the words that have come from my brain first and my heart second, will not be interesting enough to attract the attention of anyone listening. I am afraid that I will read my first, or second, or fifth draft and someone will say, "ew, no one should read this, EVER." This, however, has happened to me. I was kicked out of a writer's group and one of the other writer's told me that he felt my work was crap and the world shouldn't be subjected to my crap because it was destructive and horrible. I have never found a way to push past those words, so I write, I write and write and write and hope that people like what I write.

Honestly, no writer, no matter how bad and no matter what the subject, should be told that their work is destructive and that they should give up writing to save society from the perverse horror they have written. All writers should be taught and if there is a serious problem, they should be steered in another direction. No one should ever be belittled, not in a writer's group and not in a book or story review. The world out there tends to forget that there are people behind those stories, people with feelings and ambitions and goals.

A writer should feel safe in a writer's group, safe to explore and develop and even to offend. A writer's group can help new writer's learn the craft, and learn to schedule time, and they can help others grow and expand.

I no longer worry about offending anyone, I'm writing about zombies, serial killers, the death of children, and I've destroyed the life on one ten-year-old in my books. I can't worry that the violent sex, or brutal torture, or tasting of human flesh is going to put anyone off my books. I write horror, not books set in happy dancing bunny land. My main zombie character likes Pearl Jam and sad songs, my serial killer loves everything that has a good beat to kill to, my other characters like a variety of music depending on their moods. I write in coffee shops, at the kitchen table, and if it's sunny outside I grab my notebook (yes I write longhand) and sit under a tree with a soda and a snack.

So writer's, write. If you're new, write. If you've been writing a while, continue to write. If you've only written poems and want to write stories, go ahead and write it. And as for those reviews - don't let the bad ones hurt. Sure they sting, but more like a splinter not a sword slash.

Yves Saint Laurent Mascara Tester

3/19/2015

Every now and then I get free stuff to test, and one of the things I am supposed to do is blog about them. Now, everyone who knows me knows I am not a super girlie girl so this last test was a little out of my zone, but honestly I am so happy I got to do it.

In my recent VoxBox from Influenster I received a mascara from Yves Saint Laurent, and I've gotta admit it is the best mascara I have used thus far! I usually use Maybeline but this might just change my mind. It makes my lashes look longer, thicker and it lasts literally all day. I think I am in love with this mascara.

The thing that makes me the most happy about this mascara is the way it STAYS! I can cry, laugh, yawn, have tears streaming down my face, do a mud run, swim, and just be myself with no mascara streaks running down my face. I have never, and I mean NEVER, had a mascara stay on my eyelashes this well in my life.

I recommend this mascara to anyone who likes the look without the hassle!

I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes

Where to write?

3/18/2015

Since moving to a new town in a new state I feel like I am flailing in my writing. I am lost without a well-known cafe to write in and I have no beach to sit at and write longhand. So I have started searching for a place to write, and I am finding it incredibly difficult. Partly, because I don't know the area, and partly because I haven't been stable long enough here to explore like I need.

There is something about being in a new environment that makes it difficult to work. I've got the ideas flowing, I've got the music going, and the characters all want to run out and say, "Hey, I'm here so put my life down on that paper." Yet, I can't seem to do it. At home there are too many distractions, the laundry needs to be done, the dishes need to be washed, dinner needs to be cooked, food needs to be bought. It is an ongoing war. I wish I was one of those people who could shut everything down and just write, but I'm not. I get distracted too easily.

It's kind of weird. Writing comes easy, finding the proper place to write is the hard part.

I don't know if any other writers have this problem. I'd like to think I am not the only one, but there are times when I feel like I am. Part of that is that writing is such a solitary experience. Authors write alone. They create worlds and people alone. They cry alone when someone dies, and they are afraid alone when they turn their babies out in the world. Rejection doesn't scare me. Bad reviews don't scare me. Not being able to find a place to write, that, that scares me.

TV Show Review - iZOMBIE

3/17/2015

Tonight the CW premiered a television show about a young girl who becomes a zombie called iZOMBIE. Unlike the other zombie shows on television like THE WALKING DEAD or Z NATION, this show doesn't seem to take itself too seriously and follows a zombie model a little like the zombies in the movie WARM BODIES. This realization came to me as the young medical student who believes she is a zombie eats a brain then realizes she has the memories of the dead person who's brain is nourishing her body. Olivia joins the medical examiners office so that she has available access to the brains she needs. After realizing she has the memories of a murder victim she feels the need to pass on the information so the police can find the killer.

This show was fun and humorous. Being the pilot episode I am looking forward to seeing how this show will evolve and how they are going to deal with a brain eating medical examiner as the main character. I am sure there will be issues as Olivia has already had a physical accident, and I doubt as a zombie her wounds heal, so I am interested in her explaining her open wounds to her lover when or if she gets one.

It's an interesting idea to have a cognizant zombie, and I am hoping this offers a fun and new take on the zombie genre. And as a last note, I was watching this with someone who isn't a zombie aficionado like me and they too enjoyed it.

Witches and the Supernatural

3/11/2015

I'm working on a fantasy novel that someone else wrote, and I am at a loss. I didn't realize there was so much I didn't know about the fantasy genre. I thought I'd look up a few things and voila, a book would be finished and publishable. Yeah, I was wrong.

I know almost nothing about witchcraft, witches, pagans, the entire religion/belief system. I thought that knowing the difference between a good witch and a bad witch, white and black magic, natural and unnatural spells, would be enough. There is so much more to it than that. There are witches who believe in using only what the earth has to offer in spells and protection. There are witches who don't believe in casting spells. There are witches who believe only in the spirit world and the help received from the beyond. There are witches who dabble in death and use sacrifices of animals in their magic. There are witches who only feel safe when they call upon the help of nature during a time of solstice.

Now I have to separate what is truthful and bend and shape it into fantasy without upsetting the real life practitioners out there. Not only do I have to concern myself and update myself on witchcraft, but on the supernatural and alternate worlds.

Of course, I have read novels set in alternative universes and worlds. I mean I read the I, ROBOT series by Isaac Asimov, the NIGHTSIDE series by Simon R. Green and the INFERNAL series by Edward Lee, so I know about other worlds and worlds within worlds. The problem I am having it that this isn't just a world within a world, it's a world of fantasy and magic and trolls, which is not something I am familiar with.

I'd like to say I feel confident that I am awesome enough to do this, but there is always something scary about writing, and when it isn't in the genre you consistently write in it can be even more frightening!

Just kinda had to get this out there. As an author I am full of self doubt and concern over if what I write is interesting.