Vozwords

So, for those of you interested in the guy who brought us the art for Tales From the Cypt, you should head over to the new Vozwords blog!

You might recognize Mike Vosburg's name from this post. He's done the storyboards for The Chronicles of Narnia, and many other very cool things!

Yes, it is a brand new blog, but here's a guy who has done a bunch of illustrations that you haunters and dark art lovers will recognize and love! FOLLOW HIM, 'cause he's my bud.

You can also check out Mike Vosburg's website here. Well worth the gander, believe me!

Grave Space

Image by maddieddigital

By Buildings and Human Construction

Image by Algo

Image via FAQ dot org

Image via Ghost Stories and Pictures

Via Wild Particle

I really do have to think about getting to making some new tombstones...

At Last, the News About Hauntcast

From the desk of Chris Baker:

So, here is the big news;
1. We are redesigning the web site for easier navigation.

2. New episodes of Hauntcast will now be available on the first Friday of the Month not the last. HC34 airs on June 3rd.

3. Moving forward the show will have a PG13 rating.

4. The new episodes will once again be offered FREE!

If you know any vendors that should advertise with us please send them an email and let them know we are looking for advertisers.

Spread the word.

So, guys, that's it! After much debate about the future of the show (including shutting the whole thing down in November), we decided to air the show again for free--so we want no complaints about all the commercials, see? It costs money to pay for bandwidth, and since we had over 12,000 downloads last month, and we're not even into the busy season yet, it's going to take money to keep the site up and running.

Chris is taking care of the people who have subscribed, since they've proven themselves to be truly supportive, hard-core fans of the show and deserve to be kept in the loop and happy. (And we love you guys for being supportive!)

It did come to Chris's ears that maybe the show was a little bit racy for some who like to listen while their kids are in the vicinity, so he and I are going back through our old episodes, one by one, and are editing out or bleeping the more adult content. From here on out, the show will maintain a PG-13 rating, which is probably what you're used to listening to on the average FM radio morning show.

The new show comes out Friday, so give a listen to it if you haven't for a while. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by the changes happening!

Dog Tags

Yes, I know.

"Shell! Enough with the damn dog posts, o.k.? Give us some Hallowe'en content, already!"

I'll get to it. Next week, after the holiday.

Meanwhile-another dog post. :oD

I've been looking around for tags for little Samhain. Petco and Petsmart don't really need my money, so I decided to surf around Etsy to see if I could find something cool for the newest Hell Hound to wear around town and terrify the lesser beings he encounters.

The place to go, apparently, is Etsy seller, BowWowzerZ.

I know there are service dogs who find corpses, so maybe I can train him to hunt zombies? Surely Amazon has a book on that...

Life is short. Bite hard. 

With so many cool choices, I may have to get one for each of the pups.

The Great Puppy Saga of 2011 Continues... Meet Sam!

I headed over to the breeder's house today for the final pick of the litter. It was so very hard to choose between blue and yellow. They're both great pups, and I know from the parents either one will be a fantastic dog. But, my instinct told me--

Yellow was the guy for us!

So--everyone, meet Sam. Sam, meet---everyone!

He comes home in about three and a half weeks. More disgustingly sappy blog entries to come!

25 Years of Stephen King's IT



It seems that Pennywise, the clown who creeped us out the most, makes his return coming this Fall.

A special, 25th anniversary edition of Stephen King's IT is on its way-but sadly, it looks like this limited edition is already sold out, and in fact sold out in the first twenty-five minutes of its announcement.

From the Cemetery Dance announcement:

Featuring a brand new afterword by Stephen King, full-color wrap-around color artwork by Glen Orbik, and nearly thirty original color and black & white interior illustrations by Alan M. Clark and Erin Wells!
IMPORTANT UPDATE FOR COLLECTORS:
Now that we've had a chance to look at the orders, the Deluxe Lettered Edition sold out within 25 minutes of being announced. Thank you for your interest in this special edition!
About this Deluxe Special Edition:
Cemetery Dance Publications is very pleased to announce our Special Deluxe Limited Edition of Stephen King's classic novel It, which he calls his "final exam on Famous Monsters" in his brand new afterword to this oversized special edition!
This is easily the biggest, most lavish production Cemetery Dance Publications has ever undertaken. Glen Orbik painted the gorgeous wrap-around cover artwork, Alan M. Clark and Erin Wells created nearly thirty exclusive interior illustrations including black & white drawings and color paintings, and we hired the designer of the Limited Editions of The Secretary of Dreams, Blockade Billy, Riding the Bullet, and Full Dark, No Stars to create a unique interior design unlike any book we've ever published!
This fine collectible volume will be available in three states this fall, all of them printed in two colors and bound in fine materials that go beyond the scope and quality of our other much-acclaimed Stephen King special editions. Already deep in production, the exclusive Cemetery Dance Special Limited Edition of It by Stephen King will be the perfect addition to any collection. We expect strong demand for this collectible given the popularity of the novel, so don't wait to place your order or you might miss out!
Special Features Exclusive to this Collector's Edition:
• brand new afterword by Stephen King detailing why he wrote the book
• deluxe oversized design (7 inches X 10 inches) featuring two color interior printing
• epic wrap-around full color cover artwork by Glen Orbik
• nearly thirty pieces of color and black & white interior artwork by Alan M. Clark and Erin Wells
• interior color artwork will be printed on a high-quality glossy stock and tipped into the book
• high-quality embossed endpapers and fine bindings for all three editions
• full-color signature sheets with exclusive color artwork in the signed editions
• a page count so high it pushes the limits of our printer — easily our largest book ever!
• extremely collectible print run that is a tiny fraction of the MILLIONS of copies of this novel you've seen in bookstores over the last 25 years — and you will NOT find our edition in chain bookstores!

 More information at Cemetery Dance.

Bummer for me about the sell-out. I would have liked a copy, but that's what I get for working yesterday!

Post-Rapture Gnomes

I hadn't realized that even garden gnomes were affected by the Rapture!

By Etsy sellers Chris and Jane's Place, zombie garden gnomes Patient Zero, Wyrick, and Legless Larry.

Via Rob Horton of the GoE Yahoo! mailing list.

The Great Puppy Saga of 2011 Continues... Puppy Cam, Part Deux!

If you're reading this, it probably means you missed the Rapture, too. I wrote this just for you guys, because I figured now that all the people who used to torture us about going to Hell because we loved Hallowe'en are gone, we'd need a form of entertainment other than annoying them to keep us occupied.

Yesterday dawned beautiful, clear and pleasantly warm. I had a pretty busy schedule, what with marking out my preferred looting spots and stocking up on my shotgun ammo, but I had scheduled time with Sandy at Sprague's German Shepherds to get my first look at the litter that has my Sam in it.

Again, we're looking for a low-energy, mellow dog, comparatively speaking, so it was important to us to see how they responded to new people, their mom being brought in, etc.

Click on the puppy pic for video. Not cute at all. Nope.

 We brought along friend and house/dog sitter, Stephanie, so that she could give us her impressions and so the puppy would know her from the very start. We talked about how we needed to be "calm-assertive" when we visited the pups, but were not very hopeful that we could maintain Cesar-Millan-like chill-ness in the face of extreme puppy cuteness. We sure tried, though!

 The one that friend Stephanie is holding is likely the guy we'll be taking home. "Yellow boy," from the color of the yarn around his neck, seemed, both on video and in person, a very cool, mellow little guy. So did dark blue boy. Yellow boy just laid on her lap and looked around, not whining or crying, just observing the goings-on around him. I'm really leaning towards him at this point, but I'll give it another visit before I decide...

The rare and adorable puppy conga line.

 After we left we headed to lunch and compared notes. All three of us agreed that both yellow and blue boys seemed to display the most quiet calm and would likely fit in best with our current kids. It was good to know that my choices were backed up by Mr. ShellHawk and Stephanie, because I know they are both very observant people and not likely to allow cuteness to overwhelm their good judgment.

Next Thursday or the following Tuesday, I'll head over and make the final decision as to who the real Sam is. Their personalities will have developed more and they'll be more active by then, too. I just can't wait!

Lockjaw/ Lockjaw Art Challenge

Click on the pic to listen to the terrible tale. Image via Dragon Age Guide.

Look out children

Mothers hide all the children who lie
Lockjaw’s coming with a rusty nail
He’s gonna nail your mouth open wide
Look out children
Boys and girls who do falsify
From the black forest with a hammerhead
He’s looking for you with a rusty eye

In the black forest lives an ogre named Lockjaw. Lockjaw doesn’t like children who tell lies.
Late at night he stalks the houses of the fibbers and the
Falsifiers, and before they can cry out from their beds, he nails their jaws
Open with a rusty nail, using his head for a hammer.
You might escape him for a
While and think you fooled him, but he’ll get you in the end. he’ll get ya!
He’ll get ya!!

Lockjaw’s coming! Lockjaw's coming!
Lockjaw's coming! Lockjaw's coming!
Mothers hide all your lying children
(Hide your heads, all you lying children)
Lockjaw's coming! Lockjaw's coming!
Lockjaw's coming! Lockjaw's coming!
Fathers hide all your lying children
(Hide your heads, all you lying children)

Look out mothers
Telling lies to a gullible child
Lockjaw’s coming with a rusty nail
He’s gonna nail your mouth open wide
Look out fathers
Teachers and leaders who do falsify
From the black forest with a hammerhead
He’s looking for you with a rusty eye

Lockjaw’s coming! Lockjaw's coming!
Lockjaw's coming! Lockjaw's coming!
Hide your head if you lie to children
(Hide your heads, all you lying children)
Lockjaw's coming! Lockjaw's coming!
Lockjaw's coming! Lockjaw's coming!
You can't hide if you lie to children
(Hide your heads, all you lying children)

Many people wonder, "Could such a horrible thing be true? Who would make up such
A terrible tale? "
It seems such a cruel punishment for such a tiny little lie.
Well, I’ve got to confess. It’s a fib. I made it up myself. It’s pretty funny,
Don’t you think? Ha ha ha! *scream*

Lockjaw's coming!

Music and Lyrics by Todd Rundgren, from the album, A Capella.

Hey, how's this for an idea: How about all the dark artists, regardless of medium, who follow this blog create a work imagining what Lockjaw would look like based on the lyrics of this song?

If enough people are interested, I'll feature all the work in a post down the line, due date to be announced. Maybe we'll make it a contest or something like that.

Please pass this along to your dark artist friends if you would! (I've now fixed the error that prevented you from seeing the artist challenge...)

Pumpkin Carving-One Louder

Photo via Woman's Day Magazine

Key Largo, Florida. Underwater Pumpkin Carving Contest. That is just all kinds of cool! I noticed thaere are other underwater carving contests throughout the U.S. Who knew?

Article here.