From the Desk of William Pauley III
Yo ho ho! It’s Saturday! And what do we do every Saturday?
Yup, you know it… we get weirddddddddd.
People, I’m gonna level with you. I’m not feeling my best this morning. No worries though. It’s nothing serious. Just some airborne viral mutant stomach bug thingy that’s been sending waves of pain from my core to the very tips of my toes and fingertips every minute on the minute for the last three days.
It’ll pass.
And before you ask: no, it’s not a parasite. I’ve lived with parasites for years and I can say with some confidence that this is not a parasite. This is something else. Something without hooks.
Speaking of hooks, do you know who I feel like right now? I feel a bit like Frank Cotton from the first Hellraiser film. You remember that one, right? There’s this scene, somewhere towards the beginning, when a drop of blood is spilled on the floorboards. Sometime soon after, Frank’s body begins to manifest there on the floor, right where the blood was spilled. That’s how I feel at this very moment: gooey, fragile, but determined to pull through.
I’m coming back, baby! It might take a few days (and a helluva lot more blood), but I’ll be back, and once I am, I’m kicking doors down. I have so much shit to do, it’s unbelievable. 😅
But first I have to rant a little more about Hellraiser.
Priorities.
The first time I watched this, my mind was bubbling. I was in awe of its originality. Such creativity! There’s truly nothing else like it. I tend to revisit this one every year, and with the dark winter weather in full swing, there’s no better time than the present.
I also recommend reading the original novella it was based on, The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker (who also directed the film). Oh, and the films Hellraiser II & III, but don’t waste your time with the other sequels. Like many of the characters within it, the Hellraiser franchise has been suffering for a long, long time. At least we still have those first few to go back to.
So, yeah. Sick.
Every time I think I’m in the clear, I wake up with a new symptom, something just mild enough to throw me off my game completely. Instead of writing, I’ve just been watching a shit ton of trashy horror flicks. That part’s been fun.
Maybe that’s why my subconscious has been feeding me images of Frank Cotton lately…
Whatever it is, I hope you all enjoy your weekend! Stay safe out there.
“We have such sights to show you.”
“Dinner”
dir. by Jan Švankmajer
Last Week / This Week
Last week, on Storytime!, Connor Brannigan read my weird little tale of a family game show gone [horribly] wrong: “Killing Teddy.” Haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet? No worries! It’ll be available to stream for free for the rest of the weekend. Check it out here.
On this coming Monday’s episode of Storytime!, we’re going to change it up a bit and let you all sample one of my longer works, a wild one called “White Fuzz.” Be sure to tune in when it drops on Monday! By subscribing, you’ll never miss an update!
Check out this excellent reader review of Twelve Residents Dreaming! Thanks, Trina! Pick up a signed copy here.
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Oddities Theater
Un Chien Andalou is a 1929 French silent short film directed, produced and edited by Luis Buñuel, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Salvador Dalí. (Wikipedia)
Un Chien Andalou has no plot in the conventional sense of the word. With disjointed chronology, jumping from the initial "once upon a time" to "eight years later" without events or characters changing, it uses dream logic in narrative flow that can be described in terms of the then-popular Freudian free association, presenting a series of tenuously related scenes. Un Chien Andalou is a seminal work in the genre of surrealist cinema. (Wikipedia)
“A Man of Many Hearts”
by William Pauley III
The patient was awakened by an erratic pulse hammering away inside his torso.
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