Paying Homage to the Monsters

Tags

Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Carl Laemmle, Claude Rains, Colin Clive, collage, Creature From The Black Lagoon, Dracula, Elsa Lanchester, film posters, Frankenstein, Frankenstein's Monster, Halloween, Happy Halloween, Julia Adams, Karl Freund, Lon Chaney Jr., Marco Dark, Phantom of the Opera, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, To Sleep in the Ground, Tod Browning, Universal Studios Classic Monsters

I enjoy the Universal Studios classic monster films.  I bought this Blu-ray set in 2014.  It features eight of the more popular and famous Universal monster movies.  The set came with postcards of the original film posters.  I made them into a collage a while back.

Trivia time!  Look closely at the titles of the films.  If you have read my novel, “To Sleep in the Ground,” then you may have gotten the joke I made in the book about some of the film titles seen here.  If you haven’t read my novel yet, but do so in the future, can you catch the hidden joke?  Hint:  You do not have to buy the book in order to read the joke.  It’s included in the free sample “Look inside” preview of my book on Amazon.  Happy hunting!

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Advertisement

More Updates Available!

Tags

Amazon Japan, Amazon KDP, Amazon Marketplace, Amazon.co.jp, Amazon.com, e-book, e-book vs. paperback, e-mail, Manage your content and devices, To Sleep in the Ground, Update Available

I updated the content of my e-book To Sleep in the Ground in order to make it consistent with the recently released paperback version. Amazon.com has sent (or will send) e-mails to those who have purchased my e-book in the past notifying them of the updates. If you do not receive an e-mail, then just check the “Manage Your Content and Devices” page of your Amazon account. If you purchased my e-book and do not receive either of these notifications, then please let me know in the comments section of this post and I will inform Amazon.

Regretfully, as of the date of this post, updates are still not available for readers who purchased To Sleep in the Ground from Amazon.co.jp (Japan). I have brought this to Amazon’s attention, and I am in continuing communication with them about the issue. I have experienced that Amazon Japan sometimes operates differently (independently) from Amazon.com. However, Amazon.com has assured me that updates are made available for all Amazon marketplaces in all countries. Again, please let me know via this post if you have purchased the e-book version of T.S.I.T.G. from any Amazon marketplace and have not received an e-mail or notice about the updates. I will do my best to rectify the problem if it’s possible to do so.

The updates that I made to the novel are considered to be significant improvements to the quality of the e-book according to Amazon. I agree. The overall feel and appearance of the book is better, and I, again, took the time to correct grammatical issues, punctuation, and redundancies in the vocabulary. Ahh, the learning curve involved with first novels. I hope you enjoy the latest version of To Sleep in the Ground.

Thanks for reading, and stay healthy!

“To Sleep in the Ground” Now Available in Paperback!

Tags

Bradley Lobue, e-book vs. paperback, independent publishing, Now Available!, paperback formatting, paperback novel, self-publishing, To Sleep in the Ground

Paperback books have their fans as do e-books. To Sleep in the Ground can now satisfy both!

I’m very happy to announce that my novel is now in paperback form. I originally published T.S.I.T.G. last November in e-book format. A lot of my free time since then has been spent reformatting it, cleaning it up and getting it ready for paperback publication.

The difference in the two styles is greater than many may think. You don’t have to worry about pagination with an e-book, and the appearance of the book is more important in paperback. You have to worry about the front cover versus the back cover, the type of paper you want to use (and it’s color) and even the font for the text. This is important because the font text cannot be changed with a paperback as it can be for an e-book. The reader can choose from a variety of fonts with an e-book. They can even change the size of the text.

It was a tedious but great learning experience. I’m highly motivated now to publish my nonfiction e-book in paperback. But considering that it took me months (and many weekends and days off from work) to whip my e-book into paperback form, I don’t plan on jumping back into the same pond again any time soon. If you are a publisher and would like to take on that role for me, then by all means let me know! As mentioned before, I envy those folks who are fortunate enough to have major publishers behind them to promote their work. After this experience, that feeling has multiplied ten times.

I humbly encourage you to check out To Sleep in the Ground in any of the two formats available. The paperback would be an interesting addition to your bookshelf, and might make for nice conversation as a decorative item on your coffee table. The e-book is available through Amazon in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S.A. The paperback is available through Amazon in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S.A. The book is very reasonably priced in both formats. As always, if you would like more information about any of the books that I have published, please see the My Books page of this blog. Thank you very much for reading.

Hang in there! We will get through this COVID-19 crisis together as long as we remain united, vigilant, considerate and precautious.

Stay healthy!

Click this link to access the paperback version of To Sleep in the Ground: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DC63TGP

Updates Available…

Tags

A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, authors, Horror, humanity, Manage your content and devices, nonfiction, novel, photos, Short stories, The DiVacci Curse, To Sleep in the Ground, updates

First things first…

I hope that everyone is coping with the pandemic and that lives are being saved by compliance to the worldwide lockdowns.

No offense or disrespect is intended, but I thought that since things seem to be settling down a bit in some areas of the world, and some countries are over their peaks of mass infection, that maybe it was acceptable to post some new info about my books.

Amazon.com has informed me that free updates are available for all three of my e-books.  In order to access the updates, readers who purchased my books in the past can go to their “Manage Your Content and Devices” page in their Amazon account to download the updated and most recent version.  I assume (you know what happens when we do that) that the updates will translate to all Amazon versions of my books no matter what country they were purchased from.  If you have information to the contrary, or would like to chime in with any comments about the updates, then I would be more than grateful and open to them.  Unfortunately, as of the date of this post, the updates are not available for anyone who purchased my books from Amazon.jp here in Japan where I live.  Sorry about that.  I hope it changes.  Perhaps it just takes time for word to spread throughout the entire Amazon kingdom.  That is completely understandable considering the current situation.

As mentioned in previous posts, after I published my first novel, I revisited both my nonfiction book and my short story.  Basic technical changes were made, but I made no changes to the stories.  I just updated and improved the appearance, format and user-friendliness of the books.  I changed some of the front matter to back matter, and made the layout and flow more consistent across all three books.  I also reformatted the photos in my March 11, 2011 nonfiction book among other changes.  I feel that the changes make for a much better reading experience overall.

The free updates are my gift to the readers of my books.  Thank you all very much.  I hope that you will enjoy the improvements.  For those of you who have not yet read my books, then be assured that you will be getting the most current editions and the best possible reading experience that I can offer at this time.  Thank you for your future patronage.

Again, please forgive my selfish post at such a difficult time as this.

I ask your continued prayers for the world.  We are all in this together regardless of gender, race, religion, creed, political ideology, socioeconomic status or income.  Hang in there, everybody.

 

 

 

 

Shadow of the Vampire

Tags

award, Bram Stoker, C.I.C.A.E., candles, Cannes, Count Orlock, Count Orlok, dark humor, E. Elias Merhige, F.W. Murnau, Film, film noir, garlic, gothic, Happy New Year, Hollywood, Horror, John Malkovich, Max Schreck, Movie, Nicolas Cage, Nosferatu, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, nostalgia, old-fashioned, Oscar, Saturn Films, Shadow of the Vampire, sinister, vampires, Willem Dafoe

Happy New Year!

“The script girl…I’ll eat her later.” – Max Schreck (Willem Dafoe)

As mentioned in a recent post, Shadow of the Vampire is a film that I strongly recommend if you are interested in learning more about the myth behind Max Schreck, the German actor who portrayed Count Orlok in the original classic silent film Nosferatu:  A Symphony of Horror.

Shadow of the Vampire is directed by E. Elias Merhige, a director whom I was not familiar with before this film.  It stars Willem Dafoe as the mysterious Max Schreck, a method actor who has a reputation for delving deep into the characters that he portrays, so much so that it puts him at odds with F.W. Murnau, portrayed brilliantly by John Malkovich, and the other members of the cast and crew.  It was the first production of Saturn Films which was co-founded by Nicolas Cage.  Saturn Films would later produce another vampire film called Underworld: Awakening from the famous vampire vs. werewolf series, as well as other well-known films and TV shows.

The general public doesn’t often react well to films that are about the making of other films, even classic ones.  However, Shadow of the Vampire is focused on the actors and creators of the film, rather than the actual filming of the movie itself.  This makes the film more interesting, and it’s a history lesson as well as an interesting character study.  I enjoy history, so I don’t normally have an issue with films about the making of films, especially when it comes to such an iconic vampire film as Nosferatu.

“Did I kill…some of your people, Murnau?  I can’t remember.” – Max Schreck (Willem Dafoe)

Shadow of the Vampire works upon the premise that, unbeknownst to the cast and crew, Max Schreck is not an actor but a vampire hired by Murnau to add an uncanny authenticity to the role.  Murnau knows that Schreck is a vampire, but Murnau’s nightmare begins when things go crazy on the set and crew members start to disappear.

Shadow is a brilliant example of film noir.  It shows the condition of vampirism in a unique, stylish and artsy way, but in a more direct and down to earth fashion.  Many art films about vampires have a tendency to be extremely abstract and vague.  Some vampire films are shot with the use of cold, blue filters that remove the viewer from the story and make it difficult for the audience to connect with the characters.  S.O.T.V. doesn’t do that.  The film has a warmth about it not often felt when watching vampire films.  The cinematography is intimate and inclusive.  It makes you feel like you are there, sharing the filming experience of Nosferatu with the cast and crew.  The interiors of the charming inns where some of the scenes of the filming of Nosferatu happen are cozy and inviting.  The castle scenes and the areas inside the vampire’s lair are especially enthralling.  The movie was filmed in Luxembourg, doubling for Germany and Czechoslovakia (The Czech Republic).