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As a child there were a few series of books that really jump-started my interest in reading.  One was the series Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators.  In them a group of three young adults had their own investigation group and solved many spooky crimes that took place near there home in Rocky Beach, California.  Another series were the Choose Your Own Adventure and Which Way books.  You were the hero of the story in the books, and you were able to make decisions that altered the outcome of the tale. 

I got an email from Scott asking about the title of an old horror movie.  Can you help track down the title of this one?  From the email:

Maybe someone out there can help with the name of an old horror
film. From what I can remember, it was about a Nazi war criminal that was
trying to resurrect Der Fuher by doing experiments with humans. One vivid
torture scene involved putting a rat cage over the head of a well-endowed
woman. Anyone out ther know it? Please post on the Blog site if needed.
Thanks. 

Sound familiar to anybody?

The winner of the contest to win a copy of my chap book “The Collective of Blaque Reach” is Laurel Gittere!  Thanks to all who entered.  I will be contacting all of you to personally thank you for taking the time to enter.   Although I only have one copy of the chap book to send out, I will try to do something special for each of you.

Thanks again,

Matt Cowan

H.P. Lovecraft had several writers he corresponded with regularly.  One of those men was the great Robert Bloch.  Bloch would become best known as the author of Psycho, from which Hitchcock’s revolutionary film was based.  He wrote a number of stories in Lovecraft’s unique world.  The last story Lovecraft published before his death formed the middle segment of a loose trilogy.  Bloch wrote the other two parts.  Part one was “The Shambler From The Stars”.  In it he made the main character a writer of weird fiction from New England searching for diabolical knowledge, which in the end appears to draw him towards imminent death.  Lovecraft wrote part two, “The Haunter of the Dark”, and made the main character a writer named Robert Blake.  Notice any similarities in the name?  The address given for Blake in the story even matches Bloch’s real address at the time.  He in turn killed off the pseudo-Bloch in his story.  Several years later, Bloch wrote the final installment and included Lovecraft, by his name this time, as a character in the tale. It was titled “The Shadow From the Steeple”.  

Halloween is my favorite holiday.  It's the one time of year when the rest of the world becomes excited by ghost stories and that sort of thing that I love year around.  So I want to do a few extra items here this month to celebrate.  I should have an article about a vintage horror writer up soon and there are a few extras coming as well.  My interview with horror artist Steve Gilberts kicked it off, and I plan to end the month by posting an original, previously unpublished short story of mine here.  There may be another suprise for this month but that is still in the works, so stay tuned.

Happy Haunting,

Matt Cowan

At Gen Con a year ago I had the pleasure of meeting artist Steven Gilberts and his wife Becky.  I noticed Steven’s artwork through the throng of people, and it drew me to their booth with its surreal creepiness.  I ended up buying a print titled ‘Vacation Destination’ that sits on its perch in my office, glowering down at me while I write.   It provides great inspiration.  This year I went to visit and chat with them each day, and Steven graciously accepted my request for an interview.

 Ralph Adams Cram was born in Hampton Falls, New Jersey in1863.  He would go on to become one of America’s premiere architects.  He published multiple books on the subject, but his first was a collection of ghost stories titled Black Spirits and White (1895).  I discovered him in elementary school in a Troll book of haunted house tales.  They were actually retelling of older stories.  It was titled ‘The Strange House’, but