I'm late to the party on this one, but frankly, I have to catch up with the new releases and cover reveals for all of my publishers...so, at last, here is the cover for the new Nikki Landry Swamp Legends novel for middle-grade readers -- The Haunting Near Battlefield Ridge, by Rita Monette, published by Mirror World Publishing:

From the Mirror World Publishing blog:

“I never believed in ghosts… then I met Oggie.”
Nikki Landry and her friends discover strange white smudges in photos Patti’s grandmother had snapped at an old gravesite. No one can explain what they are.
Did Nikki’s little brother mark them up with a piece of chalk? Did a low-lying fog move in just as she snapped the photos? Could it be just a smear on the camera lens?
Spikes insists it’s a ghost.
Then Mrs. LeBlanc remembers a legend her grandfather told her of a spirit that haunts the small family cemetery located near an old Civil War battle site. 
Will Nikki and her legend busting gang discover it’s just an old tale, or does the ghost really exist? If so, why is he there? What does he want?
Join Nikki and her friends as they go searching for the answers…and the truth behind the Haunting near Battlefield Ridge.

READ MORE ON MIRROR WORLD PUBLISHING'S BLOG

Hello, John and welcome to my blog! Please introduce yourself.

Hello, everyone! My name is John Migliore and I'm an actor and a director. My production company is called Survival Zombie Films. I got my start as a zombie in a number of horror movies like Dawn of the Dead, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Land of the Dead, and Survival of the Dead. Eventually, I moved into acting in independent films. You'll see me in a wide range of movies including Raiders of the Lost Shark, Return to Nuke 'Em High Volume 1, Murder in High Heels, Bloody Ballet, and Jesse James: Lawman to name a few. I've written and directed Poltergeist Encounters, Exorcism of the Dead, and Creature from Cannibal Creek. I'm currently promoting the release of my sixth feature, Curse of the Bloody Voodoo Sockpuppet...

Now, please tell me what you can about Curse of the Bloody Voodoo Sockpuppet!

Curse of the Bloody Voodoo Sockpuppet is an amalgamation of two films I made back in the nineties. The quality of the first was too rough to release on its own, and the second was a little short to be considered a feature film. I also shot new footage on VHS that ties the two stories together. It's really retro, and cheesy as can be! I would call the movie cheap, goofy, and a whole lot of fun.

The story focuses on a former children's television host who turns into a serial killer. He's manipulated by his own celebrity puppet, who may or may not be possessed. Eventually, Dave commits suicide, but that isn't the end of the story. He's soon resurrected by a mad scientist known as Dr. Scissors, who's looking for help with his evil experiments.

Where can people see Curse of the Voodoo Sock Puppet in future (and right now!)?

The movie is available now through Vimeo On Demand. I plan to also have a DVD release down the road. It would also be fun to release the movie on VHS! Still looking into that one...

I've made a number of my school visit activities available for download (FOR FREE) on this website! Check out my new Free Activities Page, or the bottom of each of my picture book pages (each title is under Children's Literature in the menu) for colouring and drawing pages, plus word searches based on each of my picture books!

Have fun, make the most of this extra time together...and most of all, stay safe.

Frogs, 1972, USA

“A shocker reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds” (Variety raved back in the day), this amphibious horror flick teeming with thousands of nasty-tempered creatures that are hopping mad — and murderous. Jumping with action, suspense, revenge and Southern Gothic charm, Frogs’ stars Ray Milland, Sam Elliot and Joan Van Ark are constantly a lily pad away from croaking!

So begins the back of my DVD description of Frogs, continuing with: Jason Crockett (Milland) is an aging, physically disabled millionaire who invites his family to  his island estate for his birthday party. The old man is more than crotchety…he’s crazy! Hating nature, Crockett poisons anything that crawls on his property. But on the night of his shindig, it’s nature’s payback time, as thousands of frogs whip up every bug and slimy thing into a toxic frenzy until the entire environment goes environ-mental.

See what they did, there?

Also on the DVD back cover, some fun facts, which are worth noting:

- Many of the 500 Florida frogs and 100 giant South American toads (read Cane/Marine toads)purchased for use in the film escaped during production. Okay, so this movie crew may be partly responsible for spreading a plague of Marine toads, an invasive species, into the FLA area. Cool.

- In Andy Warhol’s Interview, writer/satirist Fran Lebowitz called Frogs “the best bad movie I have ever seen in my life.” Totally valid. This is a truly fun B-movie. Leaps from the frogs and toads, and in its logic, but it’s still highly watchable.

- The Florida Holiday Inn, used by the production crew, would not allow the deadly snakes, poisonous spiders and black scorpions into the hotel. Go figure. I wonder if they allowed non-venomous pets?

This is eco-horror shlock at its finest.  And this is a pretty amazing cast :  Sam Elliott, Joan Van Ark, Adam Roarke and the ever irascible Ray Milland — he is at his grouchiest here (personally I find him grouchy in every one of his roles).  If you love toads as much as I do (the bulk of the amphibians "swamping" the people of this little island are actually toads — Cane toads, maybe some Rococo and perhaps some smaller species, too), you will love watching them cover the isle in a plague of themselves!  Loads of other reptiles to ogle, too, as they get their sweet, sweet revenge on humanity.  

Hallo to all of you who visit this site!

I think that most of you are likely very supportive of independent authors, artists, publishers and entrepreneurs and small businesses in general. Besides buying any of my books and/or Space Zombies DVD, there is another way you can support me as a writer and blogger on this website...

If you click on any of the Amazon links, or buttons, on this site, in any of my blogs, and you end up purchasing an item on Amazon after clicking on one of my links--ANY item at all, not necessarily the one at the link--I get a referral fee. This is part of the Amazon Associate program of which I'm a part, which creates another revenue stream for me (it isn't just Amazon adding creepy ads to my site).

So, if you feel like shopping on Amazon.ca at any time, for anything, consider using my gateway links. It helps defray the costs involved in keeping up with this website and the blogging/author life and so forth. And it's super appreciated by this independent author!

Thank you! An example of one of these gateway links is directly below, for the sake of clarity (and you can totally use it, too!)...

Three young seminary students, whose behaviour could be compared to a mild version of the Three Stooges, lose their way in the woods on the way home from vacation. They spot a farmhouse as night falls, and the old woman there agrees to let them spend the night, but they must sleep in different areas. Khoma, whose monk-like haircut harkens to Moe of the Stooges, sleeps in the barn and is isolated by the old woman, who attempts to seduce him, but succeeds in riding him like a horse…or maybe I should say a Pegasus, as they are shortly airborne. Khoma realizes she’s a witch, demands they return to land where he promptly beats her so hard she turns into a beautiful, but now dying, young girl! 

When he returns to the seminary, he is ordered by the Rector to go to a rich merchant’s home, whose daughter is on her deathbed. She has specifically requested for Khoma (by name) to come to her bedside and pray for her. Upon arriving, Khoma discovers this is the same farm where he met the witch, and the merchant’s daughter has passed away, moments before his arrival. Her father promises Khoma 1000 gold pieces if he stands vigil with his daughter’s corpse in the chapel and prays for her soul every night for three nights. This is where things go all Evil Dead.

Viy was directed by Konstantin Yershov and Georgi Kropachyov based on the screenplay co-written by Aleksandr Ptushko, which was further based on the story of the same name by Nikolai Gogol. Leonid Kuravlev and Natalya Varley star.

This was apparently the first horror film released in the USSR (which meant some of the scenes where Viy appears had to be toned down due to restrictions on Soviet film production). A modern version was released in 2012 starring Jason Flemyng, and a Serbian version of the film screened at the Fantasia Festival in 2010. (moviesandmania.com)

It’s worth wading through the very slow and silly (read, drunken and even immature characterizations) first half to get to the three nights where Khoma stands vigil—particularly the second and third nights, where the inventive camera movements (so much spinning) and visuals including demons and hands creep out from the walls. Then, of course, there’s Viy at the very end—and whether you love practical effect/prop demons and monsters for their horrific visages or their pure camp, you’ve gotta love Viy…and also his many demon minions that come piling in before the witch finally summons him. Any monster that needs help opening his eyelids is unique and noteworthy in my opinion. Love it!

Viy and his cohort, as well as the wild camera movements and the creepy chapel set where my very favourite aspects of this film. However, like many a horror movie, it lacked a real (or good) ending. Fans of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series ought to appreciate this one...find a copy on Amazon below:

Check out this little sneak preview of the art for Libby the Lobivia Jajoiana that our illustrator, Gord Bagshaw, is working on!

From Gord's Facebook post:

A quick sneak peak teaser into my art process with the children's book, Libby The Lobivia Jajoiana, written by Regan Macaulay & Kevin Risk and will be published with Mirror World come the Fall of 2020. I am using Affinity Publisher to organise the order of the art pieces, Affinity Designer for the vector art, and Affinity Photo for bitmap painting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biO3KoH8U9o I personally titled this portion of the garden, The Royal Kiss, inspired by the shape of a petunia that I've been studying. #iloveart

I had the privilege of catching Uninvited on the big screen (my first screening of this ridiculously fun B-movie from 1988) at the Royal Cinema here in TO a couple of weeks ago, with partial proceeds benefiting the Annex Cat Rescue, one of several rescues I love to support. It seemed my worlds were colliding (pet welfare and care crashing wildly into my love of B-movies and cult classics) in the best possible way. 

The synopsis from IMDb: A sinister corporation loses control of a house cat infected with a genetically engineered virus. The death toll rises during the mutant feline's rampage and, eventually, it finds its way on board the yacht of a criminal kingpin.

From Wikipedia: Uninvited is a 1987[1][2] American horror film written, produced and directed by Greydon Clark and starring George Kennedy, Alex Cord, Clu Gulager, Toni Hudson, and Eric Larson.[3] The film primarily takes place aboard a luxury yacht owned by a criminal multimillionaire and bound for the Cayman Islands, whose passengers and crew are terrorized by a mutant cat.

From Rotten Tomatoes: When a shady businessman (Alex Cord) attempts to dodge the law by sailing off to a remote island paradise, he brings along a bunch of young spring break revelers. However, when a cat escapes from a dangerous scientific experiment and makes its way on to the boat, the passengers soon discover that it is harboring a deadly secret.

Check out all the different sorts of posters I've found for this single movie...and I'm sure there are more out there...

Libby the Lobivia Jajoiana, my next picture book (co-written with stupendous Kevin Risk and illustrated by the miraculously talented Gordon Bagshaw, to be published by the superstars at Mirror World Publishing) was officially announced on Mirror World Publishing's blog

From the Mirror World Publishing Blog:
You can find our whole line up of new releases for 2020, here. Last, but certainly not least, we are pleased to announce a new children’s picture book by Regan W.H Macaulay, in partnership with Kevin Risk and illustrated by Gord Bagshaw.

No official launch date for this one yet, but it will be sometime in the Fall of 2020. But if you’re putting this on your to-read list, subscribe to this blog or our newsletter to be kept up to date on new developments!

Meet the creators...click HERE to READ MORE!