Vampires, Ghosts and Bela Lugosi

Since my last post on July 12th I have been extremely busy with my writings and discovering new things. Firstly there are two issues of the fantastic The Spectral Times to discuss. As mentioned in my last post issue 7 was to feature both The Haunting of Bela 'Dracula' Lugosi and Who Was Dr Rant (an M R James piece). The former was published in said issue and the latter was pushed back to issue 8.

The Lugosi piece is a look at a piece that was originally brought up in 1927/29, then in '32 and is about his allegedly being haunted by a woman with yellow (or green, depending on the source) eyes.

This was followed by Crazy Duck Press's annual anthology 'Vampire News. Really ... Vampires Suck Vol III. This annual features my revised informal portrait of Interview with the Vampire author Anne Rice: "Her Dark and Secret Grace - Anne Rice, Queen of the Damned," and an interview of myself conducted by Bertena Varney, M.A. M.Ed. It is a must have annual for all vampire connoisseurs as it doesn't just cover books - it covers the whole genre. It also features my dear friend Anthony Hogg among a whole host of others :-)

This was followed by Issue 14 of We Belong Dead, that wonderful film magazine that I spend an awful amount of time researching articles for. In this issue they have published my informal portrait of Boris Karloff, which is the bookend piece to my informal portrait of Bela Lugosi that was published in issue 9.

This issue also has my revised review of The Spectral Press's The Christmas Ghost Stories of Lawrence Gordon Clark - which I am very very happy about. I am going to be writing a big piece for the proposed, as yet untitled We Belong Dead book on these stories. I am currently writing a re-examination of Hammer's 1964 classic The Gorgon for issue 15 and they still have the final part of my Lugosi/Karloff collaborations for Universal as well : The Invisible Ray. I am also looking into editing down my piece on Dracula's Daughter as well for them. 

Recently released is issue 8 of The Spectral Times.

 This fantastic issue features my in-depth study into who may have influenced the burial of Dr Rant in M R James' The Tractate Middoth. 

The second article is titled 'A Rain of Stones: A True Truro Ghost Story.' Based on events that happened in 1821, this is the first in a three piece sequence which is followed up with The Ghosts of Wheel Alfred and The Ghost of Gas Hill. I have already drafted a small piece titled 'A Cornish Ghost Story' for issue 9.

I shall try and be more on the ball, so to speak with up-dates and news. So until next time ...

Time Passes: New Work & Other News

Since my last post on May 14th I have been rushed off my little feet. So where to begin? First up is Reflections 19 which features my short story 'A Matter of Life For Death.' In a review of the issue (dated 5th June) Robert Bellisio wrote of my story: "Grabbing an unsuspecting reader and forcing him or her to read on is another example and Matthew Banks is a master of the art. A Matter of Life For Death should be approached with caution and expectation of the shivers. I will tell no more. Read it, but not at bedtime." I have had confirmed that issue 20 should be out in August featuring my story 'A Ghost Story.' With that one I have gone back to basics ... with a chilling ending ;-D

Now on to the magnificent The Spectral Times. As I said previously issue 6 may have two pieces by myself in it and indeed it does. Not only does it have my article on Pengersick Castle -

which concludes my three piece cycle of 'The Ghosts of ...'        it also carries my feature on Montague Rhodes James: A Morbid Curiosity - The Art of M R James.

I again am absolutely thrilled to be a part of this magazine. You can read and download via this link: http://en.calameo.com/read/002938563beb2cd23d044

For the next issue I am working on a piece titled 'The Haunting of Bela Lugosi' and have already submitted 'M R James' The Tractate Middoth - Just Who was Dr Rant.'

 


This shall be followed by 'A Rain of Stones,' 'The Ghost of Wheel Alfred' and 'The Ghost of Gas Hill' which make up my 19th century Cornish ghost story trilogy. After that ... well I have a couple of pieces in mind :-)

Another fantastic magazine that I am proud to be a part of is We Belong Dead & the wonderful Eric McNaughton who keeps me on my toes In the new issue (Issue #13) my re-examination of the Karloff / Lugosi 1935 classic The Raven is published in FULL. I am so thrilled that it was not split as it reads better as a whole :-)      

Eric still has three pieces awaiting publication and on top of that I have finally completed Dracula's Daughter 'There are Bats in her Belfry, a monster in a closet and the Death of Universal
Dracula’s Daughter: Re-Examining a Horror Classic'and submitted that. It runs for just over fourteen thousand words and I believe is my best work yet. Yes, it was a struggle as it was only meant to run for about 5,000 words, but as the most influential, if neglected vampire film ever, I needed to do it justice ... And I believe I have 

Something else that I have been working on is a completely revised and up-dated informal portrait on Anne Rice. I have previously written about Anne Rice in 1995's 'Anne Rice - Queen of the Damned.' That was published in 'Flickers'n'Frames' magazine. This new informal portrait is titled 'Daughter of Darkness - Anne Rice, An Informal Portrait' runs for 6,404 words and has been especially done for possible inclusion in a critical book on Rice, tentatively titled 'Coven of the Articulate: Critical Essay Compendium About Anne Rice' edited by Justin Boyer, who hopes to have the book out around the same time as Prince Lestat is released (28/10/14). Though my piece is not critical as I explained to Justin, it is a good look at her life and influences upon her writing. I am currently awaiting news to see if it has been accepted.

(C) Anne Rice 2014

There is other news, but I shall do that in a later post .... Until next time ....

All Good Things: Reflections19 The Spectral Times 4 & 5 We Belong Dead 13

Well you've probably been wondering where I have been since my last post. To be honest I have been really very busy and the results of this are that there are several publications to discuss.

First up is Reflections magazine issue 19 (that sold out in a matter of days!) Issue 19 sees the publication of 'A Matter of Life for Death' and this piece is a direct follow-on to my previous published story 'Tear of Blood' in issue 17 and then anthologized in Fresh Blood. The origin of 'A Matter of Life for Death' was a resurrected version of a previously abandoned story titled "The Mating Game". It worked a lot better as the basis for this 'gothic revenge' story-line (as Steven Smith describes it) than as an attempt at an adult (erotica) story-telling!

My next story for issue 20 will be titled simply 'A Ghost Story'

As mentioned in my last blog issue 4 of The Spectral Times, my piece on The Ghosts of Kenegie was published with some amazing feedback . Issue 5 of The Spectral Times  carries my piece on The Ghosts of Trerice Manor. Someone on Facebook commented about M. R. James with regards to this magazine and I offered to do an article for them. So for issue 6 I shall offer them The Ghosts of Pengersick Castle and A Morbid Curiosity: The Art of Montague Rhodes James. Whilst I have been doing this the idea struck me that I am following in the footsteps of William H. Paynter who was a collector of Cornish Myths and Legends, so with that in mind I contacted The Old Cornwall Society and the outcome of that is I can submit 'extended' versions of my research for publication. I have extended my piece on Charlotte Dymond and have submitted that and I have just completed a rewrite of The Ghosts of Kenegie. During my research I was informed about a coat of arms that is currently just being left to rot and I have contacted the owner to see if I can retrieve it and save it as it is an (in my opinion) important piece of Cornish history.

The damaged and rotting coat of arms I am trying to save for future generations.

COMING VERY SOON WE BELONG DEAD 13

Below is the cover to We Belong Dead 13.

It will feature my re-examination of the Karloff/Lugosi classic The Raven. The article will possibly be split between two issues due to its length, and if this is the case, then I envision that The Invisible Ray will follow suit. I am very excited about The Raven, as I believe it is the best thing that I have written - other than Dracula's Daughter, which is taking forever to complete. I did a 40 second trailer to promote the issue & my article but Youtube slapped a copyright infringement on it, so I cannot post it here unfortunately. They did the same with a Kenneth Williams documentary video that I posted, despite it being based upon my work. [In 1998 BBC Radio Cornwall made a  radio documentary based upon my researches into Kenneth Williams' time in Newquay repertory theatre, using both my written and audio material for it: 

[extract]

I decided to see what I had in my audio archive and to upload it - but that's another story!]

I cannot say more about We Belong Dead - but as soon as I know more, then I will update :-)

Return of the Living Dead

This past month has been very busy and very productive. I have been researching Cornish ghost stories and following on from the publication on my piece in The Spectral Times issue three on Charlotte Dymond, I have completed work on The Ghosts of Kenegie Manor and The Ghosts of Trerice Manor. I have prepped and started work on The Ghosts of Pengersick Castle and during my researches came across a ghost story that I had not heard of before, that gave birth to a Victorian parlour poem that has not seen the light of day for one hundred and thirty four years. (The illustration from the poem is above) This will be written after I have completed Pengersick Castle. I'm not saying any more about it until I have completed my research and written the piece.

This is the cover to issue four of The Spectral Times and as I write this, I am smiling from ear to ear as it contains my piece on Kenegie Manor that spans five pages and all but one of my photographs was used. I've held off so as I can post a link to it. It was launched earlier today :-) To read it on line follow the link: http://en.calameo.com/read/002938563ae284d080b2c?authid=GMQjkTViNset

Also launched this week is my brand new promotional video for Spectral Press' The Christmas Ghost Stories of Lawrence Gordon Clark. This new video sits a long side a new review that I have written for the book. This video took simply hours and hours to do as I just could not get it to how I wanted it. My wonderful wife then pointed out my flaw (TY Sam) and once I could see that then the re-editing was simple and effective.

I posted this across all my social media and the wonderful Mark Gatiss re-tweeted me (and I am still thrilled by this fact!) This has caused a lot of people to follow suit and spread the News (TY Mark Gatiss xxx). You can follow me on Twitter @thedoctor67

 Hopefully in the next few weeks I will have an exclusive interview with David Farrant of The Highgate Vampire case of the 1970s. The interview will steer well clear of this and instead look at his life and other cases .... so until next time :-)

The Spectral Times and Up-date

Today (February 21st) is a good day because today The Spectral Times unleashed their new issue - Issue Three Why is this so utterly making my day - well it includes my piece on the Ghost of Charlotte Dymond, whose murder I'm currently re-investigating. As some of you may know The Spectral Times published my review on The Christmas Ghost Stories of Lawrence Gordon Clark in issue Two.

The cover to issue two

The piece on Charlotte Dymond is hopefully the first in a series of articles on Haunted Cornwall :-)

The cover to issue three.

You can read issue Three here by following this link: http://calameo.com/read/0029385633924702953cb?authid=4TW8OCVTsV92

In my previous post I stated that my piece on The Raven would be included in issue 12 of We Belong Dead, but sadly it has now been moved to issue 13. This is cool because it gives me more time to work on Dracula's Daughter, which is taking longer than expected to research and write. I still have something in issue 12, so my 'run' is unbroken. You can get previous issue + issue 12 via links in this add:
And don't forget to follow me on Twitter @thedoctor67

January has been a very busy month for me in terms of writing, as I've said about in a previous blog and things look set to become even more exciting.

Firstly, I have been asked to contribute a regular column for The Spectral Times which I am really excited about. The first piece should be The Body on the Moor: The Ghost of Charlotte Dymond. That will (hopefully) be in issue three. I have ideas for the next three/four pieces lined up. I am still hard at work on my re-investigation into the murder of Charlotte Dymond, but have had to pause as there is information that I need to obtain and that may require a trip to London!

Here is a link to issue two of The Spectral Times that features my review of The Christmas Ghost Stories of Lawrence Gordon Clark: http://en.calameo.com/read/002938563b769d352896d

Hot off the press, so to speak is an interview of myself by author BrianMcKinley:
http://brianpatrickmckinley.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/interview-with-matthew-banks/

This is the second in a series of interviews by Brian with authors that have contributed to the Fresh Blood Anthology

I'm really excited about this as this is the second interview I have done this year with regards to my writing and though both are similar in theme, both add something to my creative process. Also due out any time now is issue Twelve of We Belong Dead which features my piece on Universal's 1935 romp 'The Raven'. Here is the cover

There will be more news as it comes. And don't forget that you can follow me on Twitter @thedoctor67

No Traveler Returns - The Lost Years of Bela Lugosi

Hot off the press (so to speak) is a brand new trailer that I have compiled for Gary D. Rhodes and Bill Kaffenberger's book on Bela Lugosi: No Traveler Returns: The Lost Years of Bela Lugosi 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9Czqke3tcY  Please Watch the trailer

January's a busy Time

Well now the Christmas period is over and the end of January is in sight, it is time to fill you in with what I have been doing.

Firstly, I have been doing some promotional / review work for Spectral Press. In a previous post I posted a review that I had done on their The Christmas Ghost Stories of Lawrence Gordon Clark - he who breathed new life into M R James on the television. At the same time as I was posting a review all through my social media, a new magazine titled The Spectral Times (and no way part of Spectral Press - literally just a coincidence) came into being. Issue Two of Spectral Times has just been released and it contains my review of the LGC book. Here is a link to it http://en.calameo.com/read/002938563b769d352896d

I have just completed a re-write on my informal portrait on Anne Rice - Her Dark and Secret Grace and an interview with Bertena Varney both for possible inclusion in the new volume of Vampire News. You can find out more about Bertena on her web page here: http://bertena.com/

I have also completed an interview with Brian McKinley for his blog. It'll hopefully feature some pictures and I talk about my work in the Fresh Blood vampire anthology. Here is a link to his blog and as soon as the interview is up, I will post it here. http://brianpatrickmckinley.webs.com/

I have also completed the sequel to Tear of Blood - A Matter of Life for Death is set twenty years after the events in Tear of Blood and is another take on the vampire/succubus myth. As always my dear friend Anthony Hogg has unbeknown been an influence on my vampiric tale and has my thanks. You can find out more about Anthony's researches into vampires here: http://thevampirologist.wordpress.com/  and here: http://vamped.org/

I am hoping that Reflections issue 19 will publish it (at time of writing I am awaiting confirmation). Issue 12 of We Belong Dead, which is due out any time now features my re-examination of Universal's 1935 Karloff/Lugosi shocker The Raven. And I'm working on two Charlotte Dymond projects - my full length re-investigation and a feature for Spectral TImes, Re-Examining Dracula's Daughter and a couple of other things.

All in all January has been a very productive month so far