I prescribe repeated doses of TIME AFTER TIME with Malcom McDowall.

Sounds about right. Me, I grew up on Lovecraft and Matheson, Univeral monster flicks and, yes, the Marvel horror comics of the 70’s, so I can swing back and forth between urban fantasy, superheros, and straight-up horror. (Says the guy who was rewatching COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE last night—just in time for Christmas.)

Somet…

If you’ll indulge me a shameless plug, I’m currently editing a VERY dark, Lovecraftian urban-fantasy trilogy that certainly straddles the line between fantasy and horror, which is one reason this is on my mind these days.

The first book, RED RIGHT HAND by Levi Black, comes out in 2016 . . .

But if they’re too resourceful, it risks turning into an adventure story, not a horror story. Suddenly, the reader is cheering for the heroes instead of experiencing fear and dread . . ..

Stephen King handles this perfectly in ‘SALEM’S LOT. There are two traps you can fall into when writing contemporary horror. If your ordinary, rational, twentieth-century characters adapt too readily to the fact that, say, vampires are real, it strains credibility. But if they can’t cope at all, or refuse to accept…

Possibly, but even if you’ve heard of vampires before, you still have to cope with the massive mindfuck of having your entire world-view turned upside-down. Sure, you may know all about werewolves and zombies from movies and TV or mythology, but only as make-believe monsters; finding out that such things actually…

Funny story: After I delivered my WH13 novel, a copyeditor noted that Pete and Myka could not have possibly met H.G. Wells (as referenced in the book) because Wells had died in 1946.

Clearly not very familiar with the TV show . . . :)

Ladies and gentlemen, Jedi and Sith, I give you the very first appearance of Boba Fett. Really.

He didn’t just try. He succeeded. The Holiday Special has never been officially shown again or released on video. All that remains are memories and bootleg copies floating around . ..

As I recall, Chewie’s family did reappear in other media, such as the newspaper comic strip.

It’s actually kinda heartwarming.

(As I recall, there was also a fun take on “Romeo & Juliet” about a STAR WARS fan and a STAR TREK fan who hook up at a convention. Oh, the scandal!)

Getting back on topic: Let’s not forget a certain Ensign Chekov, who was added to the cast in the second season in hopes of attracting…

Good one! Especially since Tara didn’t even appear until the fourth season.

Are you familiar with the anthology GEEKTASTIC? It includes a great story about a teenage BUFFY fan whose guilty secret is that Dawn is her favorite character . . ..

Another contender: H.G. Wells on WAREHOUSE 13, who didn’t come along until the second season but was popular enough that she almost wangled her own spin-off.

(As good as Jaime Murray was on DEFIANCE, I still kinda wish we had gotten the H.G. Wells series instead.)

Also, Harley Quinn is a VERY late addition to the…

Context: One of the main characters, Ezekiel Jones, is a devil-may-care master thief—who was actually compared to The Stainless Steel Rat last week!

I confess I still struggle with this sometimes. On the one hand, you want everything to go to hell and get steadily worse for your heroes. On the other hand, you don’t want your heroes to seem like screws-up who allowed things to escalate out of control (unless you’re writing a comedy).

“Why didn’t Kirk realize the…

Whom actually got referenced on THE LIBRARIANS this week!

And give the reader somebody they can actually identify with—as opposed to Doc.

From “A Study in Scarlet,” right?

Although people have rationalized that Holmes was just jerking Watson’s chain there . . . .

Kind of like the way most modern versions have Lois coining the name “Superman” instead of Clark, since what kind of guy names himself “Superman”?

(Makes you wonder about “Mister Fantastic” . . . .)