One of my favorite childhood memories is watching Saturday afternoon TV. While it doesn’t seem so long ago to me, this would have been in the days when broadcasting ended in the wee hours of the morning forcing you to go to bed because there’d be nothing on until about 6 a.m. This was also pre-cable television, when we had rabbit-eared antennae on our two console TVs – only one of which was color.
I’m not that old really, just living in those fortunate years when Vincent Price was still making films and B movies ruled. After my brother and I finished our Saturday morning chores we were then allowed to hunker down in front of the TV for a few precious hours. Top picks? Night of the Lepus is one title I easily recall. Those giant mutant rabbits are forever etched in my mind. And, of course, there’s the original The Fly.
Beyond that, images of scraggly werewolves, elderly vampires, some flick about a takeover of amphibians in a remote swamp and tons of other sepia-toned viewings that my kids would now consider totally lame.
Mind you, the stuff often gave me nightmares. This resulted in screaming episodes that brought my dad to my rescue with a flick of the lamp and the reassurance of reality.
Yet, I kept at it. Eventually I moved on to Twilight Zone re-runs, and TV series like The Night Stalker. And then, somehow, I discovered Stephen King. I’d always been an avid reader – after all TV-watching was a rare, well-regulated treat – and the novel Carrie was my indoctrination in horror. I was hooked.
For years, I read everything King published. TV and movies took a backseat to the opportunity to generate my own mental screenplay. So maybe, it was natural that when I got serious about writing and decided to put something besides poetry on paper, paranormal became my calling.
I find it difficult to imagine a “straight” story – no supernatural twists or unexplained occurrences. My brain freezes at the thought of light, airy plots.
These days I feed my habit courtesy of our cable company’s FearNet channel and a novel diet that ranges from Dean Koontz to Toni Morrison to Carla Neggers, Tananarive Due and L.A. Banks. I love what we do and how the genre continues to evolve, both on-screen and on the page.
Still, I confess, my favorite moments remain those late nights when I’m distracted from my work-in-progress, flipping TV channels and I come across an old favorite like the original Dial M for Murder. Scary with special effects certainly has its place. But nothing feeds my muse like raw imagination in good ole black and white.
***
My latest twist of imagination is the novella HeavenSent.com in the Holiday Brides anthology. You can read more about HeavenSent.com and the first chapter of the story on my web site at http://www.stefanieworth.com/HeavenSent.html
I’m not that old really, just living in those fortunate years when Vincent Price was still making films and B movies ruled. After my brother and I finished our Saturday morning chores we were then allowed to hunker down in front of the TV for a few precious hours. Top picks? Night of the Lepus is one title I easily recall. Those giant mutant rabbits are forever etched in my mind. And, of course, there’s the original The Fly.
Beyond that, images of scraggly werewolves, elderly vampires, some flick about a takeover of amphibians in a remote swamp and tons of other sepia-toned viewings that my kids would now consider totally lame.
Mind you, the stuff often gave me nightmares. This resulted in screaming episodes that brought my dad to my rescue with a flick of the lamp and the reassurance of reality.
Yet, I kept at it. Eventually I moved on to Twilight Zone re-runs, and TV series like The Night Stalker. And then, somehow, I discovered Stephen King. I’d always been an avid reader – after all TV-watching was a rare, well-regulated treat – and the novel Carrie was my indoctrination in horror. I was hooked.
For years, I read everything King published. TV and movies took a backseat to the opportunity to generate my own mental screenplay. So maybe, it was natural that when I got serious about writing and decided to put something besides poetry on paper, paranormal became my calling.
I find it difficult to imagine a “straight” story – no supernatural twists or unexplained occurrences. My brain freezes at the thought of light, airy plots.
These days I feed my habit courtesy of our cable company’s FearNet channel and a novel diet that ranges from Dean Koontz to Toni Morrison to Carla Neggers, Tananarive Due and L.A. Banks. I love what we do and how the genre continues to evolve, both on-screen and on the page.
Still, I confess, my favorite moments remain those late nights when I’m distracted from my work-in-progress, flipping TV channels and I come across an old favorite like the original Dial M for Murder. Scary with special effects certainly has its place. But nothing feeds my muse like raw imagination in good ole black and white.
***
My latest twist of imagination is the novella HeavenSent.com in the Holiday Brides anthology. You can read more about HeavenSent.com and the first chapter of the story on my web site at http://www.stefanieworth.com/HeavenSent.html
You can also connect with me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/stefanieworth), Twitter (www.twitter.com/stefanieworth) or MySpace (www.myspace.com/stefanieworth).
Thanks for stopping by!
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