Kampung Kreepy

I just watched Pride and Prejudice and Zombies , and enjoyed it much more the second time around.  To be clear, I am a Jane Austen fan. I love her writing and her wit, and I’ve read every one of her six finished novels. I’ve even read the book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies . The movie is based on Seth Grahame-Smith’s 2009 novel parodying Austen’s masterpiece with the addition of the living dead. I enjoyed the book and found it funny and respectful of the original work. I first watched the movie shortly after its release in 2016. At that time, I may have been subconsciously comparing it with prior serious adaptations of Austen’s book. (I like Colin Firth’s Darcy in the 1995 BBC TV series slightly more than Matthew Macfadyen’s version in the 2005 movie also starring Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet.) I must have gotten over my hang-ups when I watched Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for the second time. I could focus on the film as a work in itself, zombies and all. And I foun...

I’m excited to announce the release of The Geomancer’s Apprentice Complete Series box set. This includes all five ebooks in the series, in one handy collection.  For those of you who haven’t read the series, what better way to gear up for Halloween? The books are chock-full of ghosts and monsters, plus fast-paced action and adventure.  If you do buy the collection or read it on Kindle Unlimited, I hope you can leave a review, especially if you enjoyed it! This collection is a separate product from the individual books. Every review or rating on Amazon or another platform helps the box set to gain more visibility and find new readers.  Click here to check out the box set on Amazon. Blurb: Grab the complete Geomancer’s Apprentice series in this box set and dive into a mystical world where monsters are real, and a struggling feng shui consultant and an ex-barista finally find their true calling.  Who knew feng shui would be this dangerous? Junie Soong reaches a new l...

Since discovering an American persimmon tree right in my backyard, I’ve also stumbled upon a delightful piece of Appalachian folklore with which some of you may be familiar.  Did you know a locally grown American persimmon can predict winter weather in your area? The fruit has to be from a local tree so as to mirror local conditions. Cut open a ripe fruit (when it gets soft and mushy) and take out one of its seeds. Slice the seed lengthwise, exposing its white kernel. According to the lore, the kernel’s shape tells you what to expect for winter. If the kernel is shaped like a:     • fork: winter will be mild with light snow     • spoon: expect heavy wet snows where you’ll need your shovel     • knife: winter will be bitterly cold and icy with a biting wind You may want to examine the seeds from the fruit of at least three different trees for more accuracy.  My persimmons aren’t ripe yet, but I’ll certainly be putting the lore to the test. 😄

Like many others, I will never forget Sept. 11, 2001. We lived at the time in Arlington, a neighborhood in Virginia that’s separated from Washington, D.C., by the Potomac River.  My husband was a journalist. His office was in D.C. near the White House.  On that day, I’d just dropped my child off at daycare when my husband called and told me to turn on the T.V. I did so, and learned that two planes had plowed into the World Trade Center.  A third plane struck the Pentagon, only 7 miles up the road from our house. I got my son back from daycare, and I wanted to drive into D.C. to get my husband. I had no idea if the bridges into D.C. would close. I didn’t know if more planes would fall out of the sky. My instinct was that if the world was going to end, I wanted my family together. He told me not to come, because there were rumors that the terrorists had planted car bombs in the city. (That turned out to be false.) So I stayed home with my child. I monitored the news. I talk...

The Witch (2015) is such a well-made movie, and a great addition to the folk horror genre.  The plot revolves around a family that is banished from a Puritan settlement in New England in the 1630s. The family ventures out into the wilderness, builds a farm and tries to eke out a living. Things start going south when the children are targeted by a malevolent witch. I like the movie's linear storytelling. It lays the foundation effectively so you understand the family members' fear and descent into paranoia. There’s not a lot of dialogue or sets. Instead, director Robert Eggers lets the wintry New England landscape do a lot of the heavy lifting. The dark woods, the family’s strict religion and isolated, grim existence combine to create an atmosphere of dread that’s palpable. And of course, Anya Taylor-Joy is always a pleasure to watch. The Witch was her feature film debut.  

It's time to celebrate the giant sea serpents of myth and lore. National Sea Serpent Day is an unofficial holiday to commemorate a sighting in August 1848, when passengers and officers on the HMS Daedalus saw what they described as a 60-foot-long sea creature with a maned head in the South Atlantic.  Other famous sea serpents include Nessie the Loch Ness Monster, and Chessie, a 30-foot-long snake-like sea creature that supposedly inhabits the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia and Maryland.  According to various eye witness accounts, Chessie has flippers, a horse- or crocodile-like head, and a serpentine body that is as thick as a telephone pole.  Chessie was first spotted in the 1930s. Sightings of the monster spiked in the 1970s and 1980s. Chessie was even reportedly seen in the Potomac River in Virginia’s Westmoreland County in 1978.  Do you know of any other famous sea serpents?  By the way, there may or may not be a giant serpent in my Geomancer’s Apprentice urban...