William Cook

William Cook’s  Top Twenty Scary Horror Movies   These are my Top Twenty scary horror movies. These films all have the ability to give the audience a frightful experience by inducing a sense of fear and horror. ‘Jump scares’, psychological triggers, and scenes of terror are all used to great effect in these films.   Some of my choices may be slightly controversial but please remember, this is my list – these are the films that resonated with me and caused me to feel scared on some level. Believe me when I say that it takes a lot to scare me, and these films did just that.    Please let me know in the comments what your favorite ‘scary films are.   Note: this list is no particular order.   1.        Silent Hill (2006)   Silent Hill is one of those Horror movies people seem to either love or hate. I love it – there are some really dark psychological triggers in this film that played on my subconscious to t...

Well, I hope you all had a fright-filled Halloween and Samhain season this year. Halloween is a relatively new event in New Zealand cultural history and so the scares don’t come out en masse as they do in the USA. When I was a kid, my pals and I would make absurd effigies of ‘Guy Fawkes’ on November the 5 th . We’d stuff an old pair of overalls with rags and rolled-up newspaper and then push it around in a heavy-steel wheelbarrow, chanting “Guy! Guy! Money for the Guy. If you don’t have any money, then a smile will do. If you don’t have a smile, then God bless you!” Depending on who it was we’d usually give them this spiel, but if we didn’t like them we’d throw in a few other choice lines to give the chant a bit more pep. People would give us apples and lollies (candy) and sometimes loose-change and we’d all huddle round as the sun was going down and count our loot. If we had enough, we’d race down to the corner store (we call it a ‘dairy’ over here) and buy a swag of ‘Double Happys’...

This story recently won 'Runner-Up' in the P a rlor of Horror's 2016 short fiction awards and is also part of my collection 'Dreams of Thanatos' - now available to all new subscribers for free - click on the image at the end of this post to download your copy. Dead Memories 1. I had a dream on the anniversary of her death. In the dream, I heard her unmistakable voice calling me, then I saw her and she was so real, I could almost touch her again. Everything about her hit me deep in the chest, I sat bolt upright in our big empty bed. My breath gasped, sweat beaded itself on my cold skin. I could still hear her voice in the dark. I rationalized there were only two possible reasons why I could hear such a thing. I was either hallucinating, or what I heard was her ghost whispering in my ear. Then she was gone again.

Mort Castle is a veteran of American genre-fiction. Mr Castle is a respected horror author, editor and writing teacher, a prolific short fiction author and a novelist. Among other awards that he has won he is a three-time winner of (and nominated eleven times for) the Bram Stoker Award. Today I present to you a great interview with Mr Castle and it is truly an honour as a fan – my favorite works of his are the collection ‘Moon on the Water’ and his novel ‘ The Strangers .’ As his bibliography testifies I have a lot of reading of Mr Castle’s work still in front of me (rubs hands with glee). Please make sure to check out his books and grab some copies off Amazon - you won't be disappointed if you are new to Mr Castle's work (just click on the book cover images below). Here is he, the horror maestro himself, Mr Mort Castle: Q: How have you managed to maintain your literary career for as long as you have? Do you have any tips for other writers starting off on their careers in...

It is with great pleasure that I can finally announce the release of Fresh Fear: An Anthology of Macabre Horror (2nd edition). This new edition has a new lay-out, formatting and a cover featuring the amazing photography of renowned French photographer, Louis Blanc ( http://loublancphotos.com/ ). Formatting and interior work done by the talented Cyrus Wraith Walker from Cyrusfiction Productions. FRESH FEAR: An Anthology of Macabre Horror* is a collection of horror from some of the genre's best writers of dark fiction. In the introduction, a selection from W.J. Renehan's The Art of Darkness: Meditations on the Effect of Horror Fiction, we are reminded that, "Horror serves to reconnect us with our primal selves, provides temporary respite from the droning conditions of modern life." With over 450 pages, Fresh Fear is packed with stories written by both masters and up-and-coming maestros of the horror genre. Tales steeped in psychological horror sit along...

Recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Malina Roos for her very cool blog: How To Dismantle Your Life . Check it out. Men in Horror: WILLIAM COOK I first read William Cook a couple of years ago and was immediately enthralled with his writing and his style. The book I read was BLOOD RELATED. I loved it. It was intense, creepy, dark and twisted.   For some reason, my review of this book has disappeared from Amazon and Goodreads, so I dug it up and reposted it.   "Be warned, this tale is not for anyone who dislikes gore and violence. This is a brilliant tale of fathers and sons, serial killing at its finest and the legacy families create. Charlie and Caleb Cunningham are twins and serial killers, following in the footsteps of their father and grandfather. The story is told through letters, news articles and from the points of view of the killers, the police and the doctors involved. All the pieces of the story are woven together beautifully t...

Nominations are now being accepted for the SFFANZ 2015 Sir Julius Vogel Awards (see below for link/details) and I have two books that are eligible for the ballot this year: Dreams of Thanatos: Collected Macabre Tales and Corpus Delicti: Selected Poetry . The nomination period will close at 8.00pm on 31st January 2015. The awards recognize excellence in science fiction, fantasy, or horror works created by New Zealanders and New Zealand residents, and first published or released in the 2014 calendar year. Anyone can make a nomination and it is free! To make a nomination please email sjv_awards@sffanz.org.nz .  Just copy and paste the following info (for one or both) into the body of your email: WHAT to Put On the Nomination For Dreams of Thanatos: Collected Macabre Tales ESSENTIAL Information This is to enable SFFANZ to verify and process the nomination. Name / Titl...