Black Gate

Though it doesn’t happen very often, occasionally I am left speechless.

Generally this occurs when watching an episode of True Blood during which there is an abundance of vampire and werewolf nudity. However, sometimes it happens for other reasons as well.

Case in point.

Seeing the voodoo doll display on my desk along with the “I’m So Goth I Poop Bats” bumper sticker on my file cabinet, an insightful co-worker brought me the coolest “how to” book since that one that contained the instructions on how to bring a Golem to life.

Nicola Tedman, a special effects artist who worked on the Harry Potter films, has awaken her inner George A. Romero and focused her creative attention on the malleable, fuzzy softness of felt.

Zombie Felties: How to Raise 16 Gruesome Felt Creatures from the Undead is an oversized paperback which instructs the reader in the ultimate in anti-Martha Stewart craft making.

Inside, would be Zombie Masters will find remedial instructions for more than 15 zombie creatures, including a Romero-esque “Day of the Dead Zombie,” a “Dead Ducky” and my personal favorite the “Vampire Zombie.”

…

Read More Read More

This week marks two years since our beloved editor John O’Neill convinced me there was a place for blood-streaked, supernatural stuff to be splattered around the Black Gate web site.

A publication dedicated to sci-fi and fantasy certainly wasn’t the first place I would have thought to set up shop. And in the last twenty-four months a few sites where “my sort” of topics would have been more at home have come calling. I could have pulled up stakes and gone to live and write in a sea of angsty 20-somethings, with multiple piercings and a monochrome wardrobe.

Or I could stay in the bowels of the Black Gate offices, where above me E.E. Knight stands on the roof taking the occasional pot shot at a curious tourist with his Mauser, and Ms. Clooney’s Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood brews endless pots of foul-smelling herbal tea.

Ultimately it was an easy decision.

And now, two years later, I’ve become accustomed to the seat in the unisex bathroom being forever left in the “up” position (Howard Andrew Jones, I know that’s your doing) and the occasional office brown-outs caused by Scott’s tinkering with the cable television.

I’ve also had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of some of the most innovative talent in literature, music, indy film and art.  I’ve introduced you to the guy who sound-tracks Hugh Hefner’s Halloween parties, the abducted kid from Close Encounters and a zombie-blasting, 80’s pulp-fiction hottie.

I’ve got the greatest job ever.

But most important, I’ve been introduced to the greatest audience ever.

…

Read More Read More

As you would expect, Halloween means the servers that handle Goth Chick News email all but melt down in the month of October.

Though I love nothing better than hearing from some of the more… well… “interesting” members of the Black Gate fan base, there are definitely some communications I could probably go my entire life without seeing, and others that aren’t exactly “wrong” in the strictest sense of the word, but are definitely pushing a few boundaries.

You know who you are, and in the future you’ll thank me for not posting you-know-what.  Someday you may want to run for office or something…

But I do get some incredibly intriguing bits of data as well and 2011 was no exception.  This year the cool stuff seemed to run along a common theme; so much so that I couldn’t help but share it.

Pictures of ghosts.

As an amateur ghost-hunter myself, this is a topic I just can’t get enough of; and I don’t mean “orbs” (there are just too many other explanations for those), or streaks of light (same issue).  I’m after pictures showing distinguishable forms and faces that appear in pictures once they are developed or reviewed, which were not in the shot when it was taken.

It scarcely matters which side of the ghost question you come down on.  Believe or no, you can’t deny that some of the “photographic evidence” is creepy if not downright compelling.  If it gives you a little shiver, it’s a great shot.

…

Read More Read More