Buried Treasure

One of my regrets in life is not taking time to speak with Karl Edward Wagner.

In the early 1990s, I used to be a member of the HWA (Horror Writers Association). Through their annual conventions, I got to meet many of the writers I admire, including heavy-hitters like Richard Matheson, Harlan Ellison, and Robert Bloch. I was once in a huckster room, picking up a paperback copy of In A Lonely Place, when someone said, “You ought to have him sign it. He’s right over there,” and pointed to an intimidating, biker-esque, bearded man standing alone. “Maybe I will,” I answered… and did not. He died a few years later.

Karl Edward Wagner was known primarily for his character, Kane, a dark fantasy anti-hero of short stories and novels. Though not my genre of choice, I have read a collection of Kane short stories and thoroughly enjoyed it. But he also wrote several award-winning horror stories, originally published in now defunct (and sorely missed) magazines, like Twilight Zone and The Horror Show.

I won’t rattle on about the plots of these stories, but the imagery, subject matter, and prose have stayed with me for decades–not unlike other established masters (Poe, Blackwood, Barker). There are two collections containing these stories: In a Lonely Place, and Why Not You and I? Both are out of print currently, but used copies are out there. I have the former in well-worn 1983 paperback, and the latter in a beautiful Dark Harvest edition, 1987 (both pictured above). The paperbacks editions are often found easily and inexpensively at your local used bookstore.

Wagner and I have East Tennessee in common, and I suspect that this is part of my strong connection with his writing. He was born there; I grew up there. Many of the stories are set in and around Knoxville, and the Great Smokey Mountains. I have fond memories of walking slightly off campus while attending the University of Tennessee, wondering if I was treading the same sidewalks as in Where the Summer Ends.

Recently, having reacquainted myself with the two collections, I got curious as to Wagner’s influences. I started with his websit e, discovering that he has a cited list of what he considered to be the 39 best horror novels (divided into 3 groups of 13–supernatural, science fiction, and non-supernatural). I found a complete copy of this list on Thomas Ligotti’s website here (scroll down after clicking).

Treasure maps are not that easy to come by. When you do happen upon one such as this, the level of excitement is difficult to define. For me–an avid reader who prides himself on being fairly knowledgeable of the horror genre–I was simultaneously mystified, unnerved, and giddy. There are several authors and titles on that list that I have never read or even heard of! I am only familiar with five. FIVE! That means there are at least thirty-four titles out there that I am now curious to read.

Of course, many of these are old, out-of-print, expensive, forbidden, or cursed… but that makes it all the more exciting to track them down. Echo of a Curse by R.R.Ryan was recently reissued in a brand new edition with a foreword by none other than Stephen King himself.

So, even 20+ years after his death, Wagner is the author that keeps on giving… to me, at least. Thank you, Karl. I wish had told you in person how much you mean to me.

–Tim

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My Favorite Things: Summer Edition

Every show, David and I warm up by talking about something—often genre related—that we find exciting that week. In a recent show, David mentioned the theme of endings within franchises… Game of Thrones, The Avengers, Star Wars etc.

I just sat down and thumbed through the latest EW magazine and thought, well… with endings, there are always new beginnings. And though any of the following could be used for our opening ice-breakers (and may still), some of them are not genre related… so, I decided to compile and share them with you… here.

If you’re our age, you likely remember when summer was a dead end, no-man’s-land, filled with reruns and original programming not fit for even Saturday mornings—remember Battle of the Network Stars… Shields and Yarnell… That’s Incredible? Well… with competition and streaming services continuously upping their game, that’s not the case anymore.

The following are some new and returning shows that I’m hyped about:

Baskets—I’ve been watching this brilliantly dry series for its entire run and the warped humor is perfectly in tune with my psyche. Zach Galifianakis is a middle-aged son who returns home from a failing clown career to the small town inhabited by his mother and twin brother. His mother, portrayed by comic Louie Anderson, is the heart of this show and I encourage you to watch it, if anything, for his multiple Emmy-award winning performances.
Fear the Walking Dead—by season three I was ready to write this show off. Almost everything about it was terrible. But somewhere in that mid-season, the tables turned and my interest piqued. Now, I enjoy it more than The Walking Dead. The characters they’ve added are fully-fleshed, and the STORY WENT SMALL… which, as you’ve heard me preach on the show, is much more interesting than a cast of hundreds—especially when battling zombies.
Pose—This will be the second season of the Ryan Murphy-produced show inspired by New York’s late 1980s Underground ball culture that went on to influence artists a many—including Madonna and RuPaul. The first season was a little clunky, and a little soapy… but, man, the cast—hosting the largest ensemble of transgender actors so far in a single series, AND the incomparable Billy Porter. This was appointment TV for Dennis and I. Rarely do I say that these days.
NOS4A2—This could suck. I have no idea because it is a new miniseries starring Zachary Quinto inspired by the novel from Joe Hill (Stephen King’s son). I liked the book a lot, so I have high hopes. And King has seen it and is raving… but, gentle readers, we all know that Mr. King has pushed his fair share of schlock. And it is his son, so why wouldn’t he? Time will tell… and I’m waiting with my fingers crossed.
Deadwood: The Movie—I was heartbroken when this series ended… but I didn’t love it from the beginning. When I first watched it, I found myself not comprehending, constantly rewinding, as if the actors were speaking in a foreign language. Then it hit me… this is Shakespeare in the west. Not exactly, but the writers managed to create a new type of English vernacular that, once I got familiar with, was every bit as captivating as its visuals. I am very much looking forward to returning to Deadwood (even if it is only one HBO movie).
Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City—I saved the best for last. Armistead Maupin is an American treasure and I would easily put him in the top 10 of all American writers. His words live on in this continuation of beloved characters from the span of nine novels in the series—and featuring not only the return of spectacular Olympia Dukakis as mother-of-us-all, Anna Madrigal… but also Laura Linney (as Mary Ann) and other beloved cast members from productions (PBS and Showtime) past. It all started in 1970’s San Francisco, and now we’re present day. I cannot wait to immerse myself in their drama once more. THANK YOU, NETFLIX… for this alone, I will be eternally grateful.

And there you have it… some of the shows that I am truly excited about this summer. I hope that some of you join me in watching them. Let me know what you think. I’d love to hear. Also, I’m curious to hear what you’re excited about. What’s headed down tube this summer that you eagerly anticipating?

–Tim

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Run Like Hell

I have had a list of TV and movie topics I have been wanting to blog about but, like a baby with bright sparkling objects, I am easily distracted by zombies.

Not traditional zombies this time, but the ones who either die or get bit, and then instantly become infected and chase after your ass.

I am speaking of the new Netflix show BLACK SUMMER, a supposed prequel to the recently canceled show on Syfy called Z NATION (I confess, had trouble getting into the first episode of Z NATION and never viewed any further; I am now reconsidering).

BLACK SUMMER’s secret is that it moves 90-miles-an-hour and never really slows down. Remember the opening sequence of the 2004 DAWN OF THE DEAD remake?… the one that started in quiet suburbia and then all hell breaks loose and suddenly we’re running with Sarah Polley, having no idea where we’re going… just knowing that we can’t stop.

Well, imagine eight episodes of that… only take out the quiet suburbia part.

But let’s fuel the intensity of this series a little more. Let’s make each episode a collection of vignettes led dramatically by single-word titles, following three or so groups of characters as they try to survive… eventually intersecting at often crucial plot points.

But why stop there? Let’s also reduce the length of each episode chronologically so that by the end they’re clocking in at 20 or so minutes as opposed to 40-45 at the beginning.

You see where I’m going here?

Let’s also make two of the characters a Korean woman that speaks very little English and a deaf guy. Take that, WALKING DEAD.

So BAM!… the race is on. Run or you’ll be infected.

And no, it’s not perfect. But it’s an amusement park ride and really doesn’t pretend to be anything else. About midway through the series, it becomes a little video gamey, with most of the cast suddenly comfortable with sophisticated firearms… and an episode called HEIST which, though highly improbable, is cool as fuck.

But I’ll forgive them their shortcomings… considering that the majority of fast-food America wouldn’t survive running down the block from rabid zombies, much less crossing urban terrain in search of a sacred stadium.

I’ll also say that I started and finished this show in a little over 24 hours…

And that I squirmed and conversed with the actors on screen A LOT…

And that I’d watch anything with Ty Olsson in it… for reasons I won’t go into here.

So, there it is. If you’re looking for tense, fast-paced, relentless, post-apocalyptic horror… go directly to Netflix and watch BLACK SUMMER. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.

And next time I promise I won’t write about zombies.

Maybe. –Tim

TRAILER

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Where Are My Keys?

Movies get under your skin. The best ones are the ones you’re ready to dismiss but keep crawling back into your subconscious like roadkill that isn’t quite dead.

Having watched and come to admire these slow-burns (storing them with the other good stuff in the wine cellar) it’s not always easy to distinguish the ones that may not have grabbed you immediately. But the film that will always be the paradigm for me is Night of the Living Dead.

Zombies became my favorite cinematic creatures in the early 1980s. Something about cannibalism at that time was extremely taboo… and just what a nerdy teenage boy needed to shock others and rebel against society’s norm… like all good teenagers should.

These days, of course, zombie cannibalism is available every Sunday night on AMC with The Walking Dead… a network cornerstone that used to be reserved for the likes of The Wonderful World of Disney, Lawrence Welk, and Hee Haw.

Zombies have lost their punch in some regards… the taboo one at least. It’s a concept I reflect upon obsessively that often leads me to other reasons why the sub-genre is so popular and appealing.

But that’s another blog post.

I saw Dawn of the Dead before Night of the Living Dead. It was before the film was available on video (circa 1982) and the only way to see it was as a “Midnight Movie” at the Kingston 4 in Knoxville, Tennessee. My “date” that evening was Kris Tetzlaff, who left abruptly at the movie’s start (when the afroed tenant bit chunks out of his wife’s tricep and shoulder), fleeing to the neighboring sanctuary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show or Monty Python and The Holy Grail.

Not me. I was riveted… and thus became my obsession with recently deceased cannibals.

Shortly after, I found Night of the Living Dead on videotape and was eager to recapture the breaking of my cerebral hymen AGAIN… this time from the comfort of my living room couch.

Not so much.

The print was grainy, the music was canned, the effects minimal, and most of the acting ridiculously amateur. How could this be a monument in history I wondered, when it left me feeling somewhat bored and deflated.

But then I couldn’t quit thinking about it. At night I would lie in bed and wonder… What if it happened right now? What would you do? Where would you go? Who would you align with? How would you survive?

That was the power of the movie… the concept. And clearly I wasn’t the only one because zombie-culture has inundated us ever since. The Italians vomited a slew of cheap knock-offs in the 1980s. Video games hit in the 90s. Rebirths and reinterpretations came in the new millennium with 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead, etc… all the way down to a weekly television show that has been on Sundays now for nearly a decade.

Did you notice I used the word zombie-culture?

I have digressed a little here. My point was to be about our concept… and why our podcast is called Johnny Has the Keys.

Some dude once said that Shakespeare wrote it all, and everything that followed was just a riff on something he had already written. This is not true. I can name several movies that do not remind me one iota of Shakespeare. Surf Nazis Must Die immediately comes to mind.

But the concept that dude suggested is completely valid: There is nothing out there that is one hundred percent original. Somewhere—whether it be externally (in the case of film production), or internally (in the case of writing)—there are key elements that a story was either influenced by, or perhaps went on to inspire others. Sometimes both. The parallels are limitless… motif, metaphor, structure, effects, social commentary, humor, creativity… past, present, and future.

Did you notice I used the word key?

So yeah, we took an abrupt and hilarious whisper straight from the lips of catatonic Barbara in Night of the Living Dead—“Johnny has the keys”—and made it our own metaphor for these little connections between works that nerds like me and David obsess over.

I know we’re not alone. Everyone likes finding their keys. It’s a tremendous relief.

Join us.

–Tim

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