Simon Clark
Pel Minton is opening graves in a cemetery for an archaeological dig, but this particular cemetery contains a disturbing portrait which is known by local children as 'The Ghost Monster.'
For centuries this grim image has imprisoned the spirit of Justice Murrain and his vicious gang of misfits, but soon these sadists will enjoy the darkest of pleasures...A chef carves human flesh with a pizza cutter. A laughing thug films his own death-dive from a cliff. People binge on mayhem, fighting until streets run with blood.
These are the Possessed. Death will not stop them.
Pel Minton is opening graves in a cemetery for an archaeological dig, but this particular cemetery contains a disturbing portrait which is known by local children as 'The Ghost Monster.'
For centuries this grim image has imprisoned the spirit of Justice Murrain and his vicious gang of misfits, but soon these sadists will enjoy the darkest of pleasures...A chef carves human flesh with a pizza cutter. A laughing thug films his own death-dive from a cliff. People binge on mayhem, fighting until streets run with blood.
These are the Possessed. Death will not stop them.
Ghost Monster
My novels are often dark, often brooding, and are most definitely horrific. With Ghost Monster I knew I wanted to write a horror novel with a difference (different for me, that is).
My Friday night treat as a twelve year old was to stay up late, eat sugary treats, and watch the weekly frightfest that was Appointment With Fear. Here were Hammer Horror's lurid gore extravaganzas. Peter Cushing staking vampires. Christopher Lee lumbering through the mist, either as Frankenstein's monster or Dracula. Stirred into this deliciously crazy mix were the movies of Vincent Price and Roger Corman.
So, largely in tribute to those blazingly lurid Technicolor horrors, I wrote Ghost Monster. The story of what happens when a mosaic known as the Ghost Monster is damaged, releasing the vengeful spirits of Satanic thugs and serial killers.
My Friday night treat as a twelve year old was to stay up late, eat sugary treats, and watch the weekly frightfest that was Appointment With Fear. Here were Hammer Horror's lurid gore extravaganzas. Peter Cushing staking vampires. Christopher Lee lumbering through the mist, either as Frankenstein's monster or Dracula. Stirred into this deliciously crazy mix were the movies of Vincent Price and Roger Corman.
So, largely in tribute to those blazingly lurid Technicolor horrors, I wrote Ghost Monster. The story of what happens when a mosaic known as the Ghost Monster is damaged, releasing the vengeful spirits of Satanic thugs and serial killers.
I describe the setting of the Ghost Monster mosaic. The place is England. The mosaic lies in a cliff-top cemetery near a ruined mansion that was once home to the evil Justice Murrain (so by all means, imagine Vincent Price or Christopher Lee as the tall, brooding killer).
Yes, the prose is lurid -- intentionally so, to evoke the Technicolor nightmares of a Corman movie. For example, here I use the weather to evoke more than a chilly night. 'Cold October winds blew from the ocean. They sang through the abandoned mansion on the cliff top - a sad song of lost hope; a ballad for abandoned lovers.' It's my belief that the buildings, the landscape and the weather are valuable tools for the horror writer. They can set the mood of the scene. Now the reader is already primed for a tale of weird events.
The prologue is set thirty years ago and when the reader turns the page to chapter 1 they have a very good idea what kind of story is waiting for them.
Yes, the prose is lurid -- intentionally so, to evoke the Technicolor nightmares of a Corman movie. For example, here I use the weather to evoke more than a chilly night. 'Cold October winds blew from the ocean. They sang through the abandoned mansion on the cliff top - a sad song of lost hope; a ballad for abandoned lovers.' It's my belief that the buildings, the landscape and the weather are valuable tools for the horror writer. They can set the mood of the scene. Now the reader is already primed for a tale of weird events.
The prologue is set thirty years ago and when the reader turns the page to chapter 1 they have a very good idea what kind of story is waiting for them.
An effective strategy for the writer is to suggest that time is running out, that events are already hurtling toward a dramatic climax. I set out in Chapter 2 to stress that the cemetery is being destroyed by coastal erosion. Every day the cliff is being nibbled by the ocean. Relentlessly the cliff edge is approaching the ancient Ghost Monster mosaic.
By now, the reader will know that if the mosaic is moved or destroyed there will be dire supernatural consequences. A group of archaeologists are working on the site. They don't believe in the Ghost Monster curse. Yet they are only too aware that the cemetery and the mosaic will be claimed by the sea in a matter of days.
Matters are complicated by the fact that a family are embroiled in a vendetta with the descendents of Justice Murrain. In an act of vandalism a truck is driven at the mosaic. I also seed the novel with new plot lines. Pel Minton works on the archaeological dig; she is nearly killed when the truck hurtles through the cemetery. Pel is saved by Jack Murrain, a descendent of the evil 'Justice.' So now there is a promise of romance. But is the bloodline tainted with evil? Will the vendetta erupt into an orgy of violence.
So, to recap, I'd describe this as the 'seeds are sown chapter.' There are now lots of plotlines to grow from these few pages. And just to reinforce the notion that the clock is ticking I finish the chapter with a reminder that the erosion of the cliff is relentless: 'Then someone pointed at the church. All of them turned to see the wall nearest the cliff shed its building blocks, as if they were stone tears, into the ocean below.'
By now, the reader will know that if the mosaic is moved or destroyed there will be dire supernatural consequences. A group of archaeologists are working on the site. They don't believe in the Ghost Monster curse. Yet they are only too aware that the cemetery and the mosaic will be claimed by the sea in a matter of days.
Matters are complicated by the fact that a family are embroiled in a vendetta with the descendents of Justice Murrain. In an act of vandalism a truck is driven at the mosaic. I also seed the novel with new plot lines. Pel Minton works on the archaeological dig; she is nearly killed when the truck hurtles through the cemetery. Pel is saved by Jack Murrain, a descendent of the evil 'Justice.' So now there is a promise of romance. But is the bloodline tainted with evil? Will the vendetta erupt into an orgy of violence.
So, to recap, I'd describe this as the 'seeds are sown chapter.' There are now lots of plotlines to grow from these few pages. And just to reinforce the notion that the clock is ticking I finish the chapter with a reminder that the erosion of the cliff is relentless: 'Then someone pointed at the church. All of them turned to see the wall nearest the cliff shed its building blocks, as if they were stone tears, into the ocean below.'
Tick, tick, tick....
zero hour approaches.
Okay, it's great to plunge characters into a maelstrom of action. I'm a firm believer in writing a story that moves quickly and has plenty of exciting things going on. Every so often, however, I like to include moments of stillness. When a character can reflect on what has happened to them, and what dramas and dangers might lie in wait around the next corner. So, in most novels I write, I will isolate the hero or heroine.
In this case the novel's hero is female. Pel Minton is courageous, a doer, a fighter. In this chapter she is driving alone in her car to Jack Murrain's home. She has important news for him. However, her car becomes stuck during a blizzard of hail. She is forced to wait in the car -- alone with her thoughts.
Because Ghost Monster's plot depends on the reader understanding that events now are a culmination of events that began more than ten thousand years ago I have Pel fall asleep in the car and dream that she travels in time back into prehistory when an ancient pagan temple stood on the cliff.
In the dream, she sees Jack Murrain's ancestor and realises that the man she is falling in love with looks exactly like the males in his bloodline, all the way back to the man conducting rituals in the temple. 'Dressed in a mixture of animal skins, purple-dyed fabrics and even skilfully woven vines, the shaman's clothing combined the world of animals, plants and materials spun by humankind.'
She realizes that the location of the mosaic is a powerful center for ancient magic. Pel sees the ghosts of the pagan dead migrating through the temple. Then she moves forward in time to when the evil Justice Murrain rules the land. And she hears, to her horror, that the sadistic mass-murderer plans to make her his bride...
zero hour approaches.
Okay, it's great to plunge characters into a maelstrom of action. I'm a firm believer in writing a story that moves quickly and has plenty of exciting things going on. Every so often, however, I like to include moments of stillness. When a character can reflect on what has happened to them, and what dramas and dangers might lie in wait around the next corner. So, in most novels I write, I will isolate the hero or heroine.
In this case the novel's hero is female. Pel Minton is courageous, a doer, a fighter. In this chapter she is driving alone in her car to Jack Murrain's home. She has important news for him. However, her car becomes stuck during a blizzard of hail. She is forced to wait in the car -- alone with her thoughts.
Because Ghost Monster's plot depends on the reader understanding that events now are a culmination of events that began more than ten thousand years ago I have Pel fall asleep in the car and dream that she travels in time back into prehistory when an ancient pagan temple stood on the cliff.
In the dream, she sees Jack Murrain's ancestor and realises that the man she is falling in love with looks exactly like the males in his bloodline, all the way back to the man conducting rituals in the temple. 'Dressed in a mixture of animal skins, purple-dyed fabrics and even skilfully woven vines, the shaman's clothing combined the world of animals, plants and materials spun by humankind.'
She realizes that the location of the mosaic is a powerful center for ancient magic. Pel sees the ghosts of the pagan dead migrating through the temple. Then she moves forward in time to when the evil Justice Murrain rules the land. And she hears, to her horror, that the sadistic mass-murderer plans to make her his bride...
Ghost Monster is lurid, gory and evokes, I hope, the spirit of the great Vincent Price movies and the Hammer Horror series. And I hope the novel is as much fun to read as it was for me to write.' Happy reading.
Visit Simon's website at www.BBR-Online.com/Nailed