Monthly Archives: October 2016

HORROR Books to Keep You up at Night!

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One of our oldest and strongest emotions as human beings is fear.  Strangely, the mind seems to look for things that are scary; we build haunted houses, spend our hard-earned money on Horror Movies, and read Horror Novels.  It does seem a bit macabre that we as humans tend to frequent this genre.  Life is filled with fearful moments – we fear death, being alone, a lack of money, losing a job, losing a family member, and the list goes on and on.  Yet there is that adrenaline rush that the darkness and the unknown can produce which is like no other to make us feel alive.  So why does horror mystify and almost entrap us?  Maybe it is our unending curiosity or we are attempting to test our courage in an increasingly unpredictable world.  Whatever the reason, it attracts millions of people, especially around this time of year at Halloween.  So here are a list of some of the authors of classic Horror books that evoke the emotions of fear, surprise, and terror to keep you up at night!

Mary Shelley – Frankenstein

Bram Stoker – Dracula

Stephen King –  The Shining, Pet Sematary, Carrie, Salem’s Lot, Cujo, Misery (to name a few)

Edgar Allen Poe – The Fall of the House of Usher, The Black Cat, Murders in the Rue Morgue,

The Pit and the Pendulum, The Masque of the Red Death

Clive Barker – The Hellbound Heart,  The Damnation Game, Coldheart Canyon, Cabal,

                           Demons and Deviants

Dean Koontz – Odd Thomas, Phantoms, The Bad Place, The Taking, Dark Fall, Watchers,

                             The Demon Seed

Anne Rice – Interview with the Vampire, The Witching Hour, The Queen of the Damned

Jack Ketchum – The Girl Next Door, Off Season, The Woman, Hide and Seek, Offspring

H.P. Lovecraft – Dreams of Terror and Death, The Road to Madness, Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos,

                               Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre

Peter Straub – The Floating Dragon, A Dark Matter, Ghost Story, Koko

Ray Bradbury – Something Wicked This Way Comes, Dark Carnival, A Memory of Murder

Ramsey Campbell – The Face That Must Die, The Darkest Part of the Woods, Ancient Images

There are, of course, many more authors in this genre that you can check out at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and many other online stores.

Also available on my website is a horror/thriller – “VENGEANCE OF THE WOLF”  

Vengeance of the Wolf by Solitaire Parke

www.solitaireparke.com

Have a Horror-ific Holiday!

Solitaire

 

 

 

15 TV Shows & Movies with Genetically Modified Humans

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Having just published a book about genetically altered children, Tinker Smith and the Conspiracy of Oz”, I thought it might be interesting to track down some of the TV series and movies where this possibility has been explored.  I have seen many of these, being a Sci-Fi buff.  I have quite a collection of DVDs that range from (in my opinion) great to really terrible, but I enjoy them all.  I have to say though, the Sci-Fi books in most cases, are far better than the movies.  I guess being an author I would say that, but I have found it to be true.

Here are fifteen of them that you might want to check out –

ROBOCOP – 1987 – In a dystopic and crime-ridden Detroit, a terminally wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg haunted by submerged memories.

LUCY – 2014 – A woman, accidentally caught in a dark deal, turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic.

IN TIME – 2010 – In a future where people stop aging at 25, but are engineered to live only one more year, having the means to buy your way out of the situation is a shot at immortal youth.

X-MEN – 2000 – Two mutants come to a private academy for their kind whose resident superhero team must oppose a terrorist organization with similar powers.

TRANSDENDENCE – 2014 – A scientist’s drive for artificial intelligence, takes on dangerous implications when his consciousness is uploaded into one such program.

DEADPOOL – 2016 – A fast-talking mercenary with a morbid sense of humor is subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers and a quest for revenge.

ICE SOLDIERS – 2013 – A scientist discovers the bodies of three frozen genetically modified Russians buried in the Canadian North. Upon thawing them out he realizes he has unleashed a deadly threat to Western society and must stop them at all costs.

GATTACA – 1997 – A genetically inferior man assumes the identity of a superior one in order to pursue his lifelong dream of space travel.

PROMETHEUS – 2012 – Following clues to the origin of mankind, a team journey across the universe and find a structure on a distant moon containing a monolithic statue of a humanoid head and stone cylinders of alien blood but they soon find they are not alone.

THE 6TH DAY – 2000 – Futuristic action about a man who meets a clone of himself and stumbles into a grand conspiracy about clones taking over the world.

THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU – 1996 – After being rescued and brought to an island, a man discovers that its inhabitants are experimental animals being turned into strange-looking humans, all of it the work of a visionary doctor.

HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP – 1996 – While a town is in a state of alert, the monster of the sea keeps mutating the townspeople at an alarming rate. A researcher finds a genetic disorder that has been caused by a chemical that has been dumped into the water that has caused the creature to have an alarming appetite.

DARK ANGEL – TV – 2000 – A group of genetically-enhanced children escape from a lab project. Years later we meet Max, one of the escapees who now works for a messenger service in the post-apocalyptic Pacific Northwest.

SPIDERMAN – 2002 -Having been bitten by a genetically modified spider, a nerdy, shy, and awkward high school student gains spider-like abilities that he eventually must use to fight evil as a superhero after tragedy befalls his family.

THE FLY – 1986 – A brilliant but eccentric scientist begins to transform into a giant man/fly hybrid after one of his experiments goes horribly wrong.

You’ll find my books at numerous locations – click here to learn more –   www.solitaireparke.com

Solitaire

 

 

“Tinker Smith & the Conspiracy of Oz” – AVAILABLE NOW!

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Return to the world of  Oscar Zoroaster, The Wizard of Oz and many of the characters from L. Frank Baum’s  classic books.  Enjoy a whole new world where Oz is once again in the spotlight, along with ten genetically altered children who are attempting to save the world from this power hungry scientist who is determined to control the world with a computer virus.  Johnny and his father meet Tinker, one of the ten children and together they forge ahead in the hope of survival in a strange world of machination and espionage. Their survival could be determined by how they utilize their fantastic genetic abilities, but will they have the determination to stop Oscar Zoroaster, and yet retain some semblance of their own humanity in the process?

The Iconic characters of L. Frank Baum’s beloved classic “Wizard of Oz” books are revived once again with an entirely new twist that is more in step with the present times.

”TINKER SMITH & THE CONSPIRACY OF OZ” is available at $0.99 for a short time in e-book format from Smashwords.

smashwords_ebookformats

Also available in paperback at my website – www.solitaireparke.com

Happy reading!

Solitaire

 

 

NEW OZ BOOK COMING NEXT WEEK!!!

              tinkersmith_coverreveal                   wizardofoz

In the year 1900, L. Frank Baum published the “Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, and then subsequently released thirteen more Oz books over the years until his death in 1919.

For generations his books have been an inspiration to children, and adults who still believe themselves to be children.  I am one of those lucky people, and decided to take my Oz oriented adolescence to the next level.  I’m not a big proponent of “Fan Fiction” but I love the idea of taking the essence of certain Oz characters and thrusting them into a non-related story.

After having read the entire original series again, I took my favorite characters from Baum’s books and incorporated them into a book from a place called Langwidere.  Princess Langwidere appeared in the classic “Ozma of Oz.” In my new book Langwidere the Princess was morphed into a summer camp for children, not a good atmosphere, but one meant for genetic change and mutation.  It became the foundation for introducing a group of very gifted children that help define the new world of Oz.

In my forthcoming book Tinker Smith and the Conspiracy of Oz you will find genetically altered children who escape into a dystopian world that is nearly destroyed by its maker, Oscar Zoroaster . . . The Wizard.

The children are comprised of ten genetically altered summer camp attendees, who go on to redefine goodness, hope, and courage.  The children’s character and personalities are not the same as in the original books, but they grow as the story continues, showing how moral fiber improves through adversity.  The children’s characters that I chose are as follows –

  1. Tinker Smith (Tinker and Smith)
  2. Johnny
  3. Jinjurs
  4. Lurline
  5. Eureka
  6. Glass Cat
  7. Tik-Tok
  8. Frogman
  9. Button Bright
  10. Kaliko

Here are the additional characters –

  1. Oscar Zoroaster
  2. Cayke
  3. John Does (Soldiers)
  4. Dorothys (Followers)
  5. Frank Baum (Farmer)

All other characters in the book are purely fictitious, and have been selected from my own demented mind to interact with the original personalities created by L. Frank Baum.

Each of the children has been imbued with super powers far and beyond human, and yet they find humanity in their adventures.  I cast Oscar Zoroaster as the arch villain, simply because I thought it was funny, and to give him the chance to perform an exciting new role in the tales of Oz.

Have you read the “OZ” books?  If so, what was your favorite book and/or character?

Solitaire

www.solitaireparke.com

 

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