“You’re not real…you’re dead!”
By Scott Nicholson
http://www.hauntedcomputer.com/
It’s easy as pumpkin pie.
You take a creature that has never lived, or has lived and died, or is waiting to be born. And then you make it human enough for readers to relate. Basically, we want monsters we recognize, but we also want them to be fantastic.
Us, but not us. Dark, but not too dark. And ultimately we get back to human characters that we furnish with fangs, claws, burial shrouds, and beady red eyes.
It’s what a friend of mine used to call the “forehead bump” syndrome in science fiction—it’s a lot easier to fabricate an alien if you slap some forehead bumps on a human face instead of creating an entirely new creature, with new rules, features, and mythos.
Sure, the vampire has gone through many permutations since Vlad the Impaler and Bram Stoker, and the old-school rules of garlic, holy water, and fear of sunlight get thrown out the door for the convenience of the writer. In my story “The Vampire Shortstop” from the YA collection Flowers, I blend traditional and futuristic elements, because though the vampire kid drinks blood (from a sports bottle) and obviously has to play in daylight, he also turns into a bat and can hypnotize other kids with his red eyes. Sparkly vampires are purely a manifestation of the 21st Century.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGUuE8vGUNoznJ-mCWbUBXoYGFImzW_H7oCKLDmKuGhVpecFWS_7shnbh_dmj5G-mX31Htez7X1me0nUqmIhaZawxm3t30tLA00eOcM0md2yrqK28AlsT08_W4RRtkUwI1RZnCa6wAqH4/s320/Haunted2.jpg)
Witches who used to be completely evil, cooking and eating children in fairy tales, until Glenda in Wizard of Oz and Samantha Stevens in “Bewitched” ruined it for all warty-nosed, toothless old hags forever. My reluctant teen witch Crystal in October Girls practices trailer-trash magic, based more on Appalachian folklore than European myth, and she’s not too happy about having to guard the portal to the afterlife. The novel Cursed I am co-writing with J.R. Rain has a family of witches that bungles along with crumbling old texts and toadstools.
Ghosts are a little easier, since there is no established mythos. As far as I can tell, all that’s required of ghostly characters is to be dead. In my supernatural novels, I often change my “ghost rules” with each book, sometimes making them mysterious (Drummer Boy) and sometimes both angelic and sinister (Speed Dating with the Dead). They can also be purely psychological suggestion, as used by Alexandra Sokoloff and Sarah Langan.
Shapeshifters are pretty wide open, and I have one as a sinister preacher/Golem in The Red Church. And sometimes they can blend, like the evil clown in Stephen King’s It. Mummies are fairly one-dimensional, since we all know from Scooby Doo that all we have to do is unwrap them and they’re pretty inept.
And zombies are pretty much plugged into any type of story these days—even as romantic objects, so even the living dead have to bear some resemblance to the living, if only to show us what we’re really like when you take away our caffeine, American Idol, and iPods.
But I love all our monsters. We get plenty of real life in our real lives, and it’s tiresome. I think we all deserve a vacation into places where we’re us but not us. It’s the Monster Mash.
What’s your favorite monster?
—
Scott Nicholson is author of 12 novels, including the paranormal thrillers The Red Church, Disintegration, Ashes, and October Girls . He’s also written four comic series, six screenplays, and more than 60 short stories. His web site is www.hauntedcomputer.com.
To enter to win the Kindle DX, simply leave a post comment with contact email. Scott will return in seven days and collect the names and assign numbers. At the end of the tour, one number will be randomly selected by the staff of the Watauga County (NC) Public Library.
You can also enter to win a Kindle 3 by subscribing to the tour newsletter at scottsinnercircle-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. A Pandora’s Box of e-books will be randomly given away through Scott’s Twitter (follow “hauntedcomputer”). No purchase necessary and the contest is international.
118 comments:
I'm a purist. Take all the poetic license you want, but don't mess with the archetype. Vampires need to be EVIL and drink blood. Zombies aren't evil, they're mindless. And NOT FAST! Grr.
My favorite all-time monster is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Gotta love that girl. :)
My favorite archetype is the zombie, but my all-time favorite monster has to be the Blob. Scary, capable of causing a very slow and painful death, and the under-appreciated '80s remake featured Del Close!
contact info: alipkin (at) gmail (dot) com
I love just about any monster, except those idiot sparkly vampires. Has anyone slapped her yet? But my favorite will always be the vampire. Real vampires that drink blood, go on killing sprees and make no excuses for who or what they are. My vampires, or any monster, need to have bite...
teawench at gmail dot com
right now I am into demons. They are easy to twist into any form needed for a story. I do like my demons smexy, but that is for another blog altogether .
It' a toss up between the original vampire ie evil bastard who needs to be staked or some malevolent evil from outer space ie like Cthulhu or a minion of the old ones.
sbwright At gmail.com
I like the evil nasty vampires, not so much the pretty ones. I do however, have a special place in my heart for godzilla.
twoofakind12@yahoo.com
"Cursed" sounds interesting. I imagine that some witches would have to re-invent the wheel because old knowledge was lost.
Barry
anamchara@gmail.com
http://gnostalgia.wordpress.com
"Cursed" sounds interesting. I imagine that some witches would have to re-invent the wheel because old knowledge was lost.
Barry
anamchara@gmail.com
http://gnostalgia.wordpress.com
I enjoy the Vampires!! The Real blood thirsty ones. I also enjoy the ones who try to keep their humanity but struggle to do so!!
kristen_babygurl@hotmail.com
Great Giveaway
Kristen
My Bloody Fairy TAle
There are some crossovers that are cool, like the alien/zombie of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and alien/monster of Aliens and The Thing.
Glad to see there are still some old-school purists!
Scott
I'd have to go with werewolves. The movies involving werewolves aren't always top-notch, but I do love the idea behind them.
I like the Frankenstein monster in the movie Van Helsing; unfortunately, I've never seen his equivalent in a book. As in, sense of humor, personality, etc - though I guess the original Frankenstein had the whole longing to be part of society thing. On the other hand, some of the stuff in H. P. Lovecraft captured the Frankenstein type monster in a really creepy way.
Thanks for sponsoring the contest!
lee dot daniel dot r AT gmail dot com
Please enter me. bkhabel at gmail dot com
My pick is werewolves but I prefer today's version over the man-beast monstrocities of the past.
Please enter me into the contest. Thanks!
rabidreads[at]gmail[dot]com
My favorite has to be zombies. I can't seem to flip passed a zombie movie on the tube without stopping and watching the rest of the flick, even if I've already seen it 1,000 times. My new favorite would have to be those Tremor worms, for the same reason above. Then of course, there's always those malevolent goats!
Kevin Bozard
kevinbozard(at)embarqmail.com
My favorite monster is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (also, it's one of my all-time favorite books). I think it has a lot to do with man trying to play God.
-Neal
I grew up on Grimm's folktales (the real thing, not the dumbed-down cutsy Disney versions), so I was more into witches, evil wolves, cruel stepmothers than outright monsters. I had an old book, written in the old German script, with black-and-white drawings. One picture I still remember. It shows two skeletons playing a game similar to bowling with skulls for bowling balls.
Christa
cpolkinhorn@msn.com
Favorite monster on this tour so far is..."A G-Go"!
Count me in for the Kindle!
Paul
mrlucky@charter.net
I am all for the bloodsuckers, but my personal favorite still has to be zombies. Thanks for the post!
starflower135@gmail.com
All time favorite (??) monsters are vampires. Starting with Barlow from Salem's Lot and my newest favorite is the Master from the Strain. Nothing scarier to me than a 7 1/2 foot tall vampire in a black hooded cloak.
canadell@bellsouth.net
My favourite monster is The Other Mother from Neil Gaiman's Coraline. Nothing so subversive and creepy than turning mother-love on its head. And those buttons for eyes... eeeeeeeee!
What is my favorite monster?
Now that I've been following scott for some time, it's got to be him.
randymir@gmail.com
My favorite monster is a werewolf!
Enter me please!
ashleysbookshelf@gmail.com
Fantastic!
coriwestphal at msn dot com
@coriwestphal
I really like shifters - you can do so much with them.
dulcibelle [at] earthlink [dot] net
I agree with Paul mrlucky. Monster A Go-Go is the Top Monster on this tour!
Christa
Great Contest!
My favorite is vampire's no monsters
monacart32 at hotmail dot com
My favorite monsters are demons. I particularly liked the approach that Sarah Rees Brennan took with them in the Demon's Lexicon.
melodiousrevelry (at) gmail (dot) com
If you read a lot of horror novels and seen movies and tv series ad nauseum one becomes jaded to the run of the mill monster. But I think some of these new saw movies have a squeamish factor that causes even me to have nightmares. The new novel by konrath called trapped was also pretty frightening. I think crazy sociopathic cannibalistic killers are the new monster. No need for costumes or special effects.
Have to go with the Alien.
I can't narrow it down to just one. I love horror in general. ....Tiffypoot @ (aol.com)
I'm not a huge fan of super scary. Or very scary at all... so I tend to like vampires that aren't so scary and good ghosts. I think ghost love stories are fascinating. I have even wrote one myself.
candace_redinger at yahoo dot com
My favorite monster is the regular human monster. We all have it in us to become one if circumstances are right.
Julie @ Knitting and Sundries
knittingandsundries(at)gmail(dot)com
Vampires are by far my favorite, just not when they're sparkly. :s
Count me in for a Kindle. ;)
LaQuiet(at)gmail(dot)com
I really like shifters - you can do so much with them.
cjwallace43 at gmail dot com
Count me in please!
vicky.vak8(at)gmail.com
When zombies start taking on a romantic role in books, I'm out.
bunkercomplexATgmailDOTcom
My favorite monster is Dracula.
eddiem11@ca.rr.com
I will take a good old vampire story any day. Although I admit I did like twilight, I don't want my vampires sparkly. I want him hot and sexy and super dangerous. And definately with fangs!
I.Pearson@Comcast.net
The scariest is zombies.
caity_mack at yahoo dot com
There are just too many to pick only one.
bluefrog62@yahoo.com
I prefer ghosts. As you say, you can pretty much make up new rules for them and no-one can object because there are no established rules in place.
I like werewolves! Though I feel like there aren't really "GREAT" werewolf books, like vampires have with Dracula.
Ghosts are fun, too.
I was always partial to witches myself, good , bad, and everything in between.
I think it's the fun of imagining what I would do that that kind of power that really attracted me.
I read a story when I was a kid where the little witch daughter was good but her witch mother was not. That story probably got me started.
These days though, I prefer to stay in the real world in my fiction.
It's funny you mention Monster Mash. I created a Monster Mash JibJab last night, for Halloween greetings. It was hilarious!
lorraine_lanning[at]yahoo[dot]com
You can't make me choose just one! You can't! I love all kinds of vampires, shifters, witches and fae. Though I have to say I'm not in love with the zombie craze going on right now. I don't get it.
b(dot)cardone(at)hotmail(dot)com
I really loved the Lycans in Underworld...
anamlgrl@yahoo.com
I love all sorts of monsters, both traditional and new, but if I had to pick one, I'd say the more current werewolf.
calseeor (at) gmail (dot) com
I prefer the modern werewolf.
kissinoak at frontier dot com
Thanks for the chance to win a Kindle!
kt1969 at comcast dot net
Aliens are my favorites. When I went to see the movie "Alien", I was visualizing something similar to "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert Heinlein. You can imagine my surprise!!
Gail in Florida
cowgirl3000 AT gmail DOT com
My favourite monsters are vampires.
chey127 at hotmail dot com
Thanks for the contest and for making it international:)
Sarah aka Miss Page-Turner
goldie-mail@web.de
My all-time favorite monster in literature is also Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. She was a genius, and the monster so badly wanted to be a normal human. I loved it.
jmanni32@yahoo.com
Vampires are my favorite, but not sparkly ones.
andrea.infinger@gmail.com
I like all kinds of monsters (just not when they're chasing me). And I love reading authors' different takes on each monster (as in, where the monster is actually the good guy or not).
Email: c4casey[at]comcast[dot]net
Lately, my favorite monster has been demons. They are just ruthless and let's nothing stand in their way.
Thanks,
Tracey D
booklover0226 at gmail dot com
Favorite monster? Don't have one!
A comment without a comment...
If I had to pick a fav, I agree with several of the other postings and I'd pick Frankenstein's Monster. But I also agree with the posting from
mrlucky:
Favorite monster on this tour so far is..."A G-Go"
That guy is almost as wordy as you've been this month Scott. You are both quite enjoyable as well.
Julie
pjtansey@hotmail.com
Vampires are the best, followed by ghosts. Theres just not enough really good ghost stories out there yet.
bacchus76 at myself dot com
Favorite monster? But there are so many! I guess I'd have to pick zombies-- more because of how they came about (every story is different: epidemic, science/the government gone wrong...) than because of what they actually do. They're fascinating because they're more of an actual possibility than, say, werewolves.
- Lauren
lauren.michael09(at)gmail(dot)com
I love zombies, vampires, Frankenstein.
Sue B
katsrus(at)gmail(dot)com
the monster in young frankenstein. spvaughan@yahoo.com
I like vampires, fallen angels and sandman. Please enter me in contest. Tore923@aol.com
Hi Scott..
Love the Blog Tour..
My favorite monster but I don't see him personally as a monster but most do is the well known Count DRACULA..I see the softer side of him..Sorry I'm a romantic at heart..
^"^
baby_blackroze@yahoo.com
i don't think i have a favorite monster
stephanie(.)pridgen(at)gmail(.)com
My favorite... Sulley, James P. Sullivan from Monsters, Inc. He really cares for others. I must confess that I do not have very much experience when it comes to knowing monsters. Many have mentioned Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, I haven't read it. My experience is Herman Munster and Peter Boyle's Frankenstein with Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman (?).
As for witches, I'm partial to Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan, introduced in "Dead Witch Walking" and her vampire friend/roommate Ivy is near the top of my list of favorite vampires (I root for her as much as I root for Bella, I like the sparkle-ly skinned ones!). I also like Lee Nez, Aimee Thurlo's Navajo vampire. I like that these monsters try to do what is right and are not evil. Don't like evil.
Jeff White... whitejw@ameritech.net
My favorite monster is probably King Kong. My most hated: the sock-eating monster, who dwells in the shadowy nether regions near the drier.
http://twofistedblogger.blogspot.com
machinetrooper at gmail dot com
Twitter: MachineTrooper
My favorites are the Zombies. They creep me out !
Misha
mishamary@gmail.com
How many monsters, ghosts and goblins will I see this weekend?
dwdorow@gmail.com
ThrillersRus.blogspot.com
Oh, the power of word association. Scott wrote: "...the vampire kid drinks blood (from a sports bottle) and obviously has to play in daylight, he also turns into a bat..."
Thanks to "sports bottle" and "play," I immediately conjured an image of the kid turning into a baseball bat. Doh!
Write2Bev@gmail.com
I don't have a favorite monster. As long as the make-up artist does a good job and the storyline is good, I like the monster. But they all look too lame to me.
I heart vampires!
Emily ebdye1(at)gmail(dot)com
OK, I wasn't going to mention it in my last post cause he's not a monster... but I have to say that Jack Nicholson is my favorite. I saw The Shining when I was a kid and to this very day no matter what he does (he can smile at the camera) and I get a chill down my spine. Seriously, it DOES NOT MATTER what he does. I've seen him in a comedy and got creeped out and I've seen him in a drama and got creeped out and I've seen him at a Laker game and got creeped out. Which just goes to show you that a great actor can beat a fabricated monster any day of the week.
OK, I just got a shiver down my spine thinking of Jack Nicholson.
The alien in Aliens was the scariest monster I've ever seen, but I also enjoy ghosts. varbonoff22 at cox dot net
I love all the monsters but it was Zombies that scard the hell out of me as a kid was tooken to a zombie movie around 9 years old and had lots of nignt mares after not Thay do not fase me but then thay where scary.
sasluvbooks(at)yahoo.com
I can't lie...it's always been vampires, but with every kind of monster coming out in the popular entertainments in every which way, there's plenty of other supernatural beasties to keep one devouring books, movies and popcorn.
jamesemr (at) gmail (dot) com
@n2France that was the only problem I had with The Shining,m which is one of my favorite movies--he raised that crazy eyebrow right int he beginning and we didn't get the joy of his slow descent into madness. Those twins are one of the creepiest images eve, along with that kid outside the window in the original Salem's Lot
I guess I just want my creatures to be serious. NotLD, Salem's Lot, The Thing. While stuff like Shaun of the Dead is fun, it feels slightly disrespectful to me.
Scott Nicholson
I would LOVE a Kindle DX. Thanks for the opportunity to win one! :)
P.S. Click on my name for my contact info. ;)
My favorite monster is definitely the zombie. I love all monsters in the fictional world (whether books, movies, tv) as long as they are created in an interesting way.
But there is something so very cool about zombies.
And I would love to win the Kindle! Thank you for such a cool giveaway!
tommygirl828 (at) gmail (dot) com
I love all sorts of monsters, but tend to go for ones grounded in myth. There is so much you can do with dradons, ghosts, demons, vampires, ghouls, and such that I find no need to create something new.
Wakincade AT gmail DOT com
Woot for monsters. I love horror very much. Thanks for being a part of this wonderful giveaway.
dorcontest at gmail dot com
I love Zombie movies!! I've seen them all and love them! :) Thanks for the chance to win a way cool Kindle!
purposedrivenlife4you at gmail dot com
I love zombies. And vampires. But scary ones- not the loving, sparkly kind. :)
Good post!
I have to say I think my favorite monster is Dracula - I watched an old BBC version on PBS as a kid with my Dad and it scared us so bad that the next day he went out and bought a cross! he's been wearing that cross ever since! I sure wish I could find that movie again...
Emily_erickson@yahoo.com
Count me in, please.
Thanks for the chance to win.
lkish77123 at gmail dot com
Vampires? werewolves? Frankstein? Mummies? Zombies? None of them, really. In my opinion, no matter how many times they have been reinvented, they will always be what they are. So they are in a way limited. I think new monsters needed to be invented where they'll be classic in their own rights in decades to come. I do however enjoy ghosts. There's so much you can do with ghosts.
For a long time, the Daleks from the tv series "Doctor Who" were my favorite. There's almost no human features or characteristics about them and yet they have been popular with kids, scaring them for decades. I suppose it is not necessary for a monster to have human characteristics for us to relate so we can enjoy them. Recently, the Weeping Angels, which is a new invention in the new Doctor Who series creeped me out! Truly fantastic and chilling monsters!
-Jesse
conrad.jd (at) gmail (dot) com
Frankenstein never scared me...
josephafisch@gmail.com
J. Fisch
Jess, thanks for the insight, I haven't seen Dr. Who in 25 years or so...
Joseph, welcome aboard
@mommydearest there's something to be said for the first things that scared us as youngsters--seems to make a deep impression. I remember the old "Gargoyles" TV movie that scared me but it's probably cheesy to my adult mind
Scott
I suppose vampires and werewolves would be my pick - if I loved monsters. They're too scary!
Margay1122(at)aol(dot)com
interesting observation(forehead bump vs new creature)
hancoci_s at msn dot com
I don't really have a favorite monster. I love scary stuff but just haven't been really scared by anything.
Thanks for the awesome giveaway!
chickenherder@hotmail.com
Thanks for the chance to win a Kindle!
Still partial to the Frankenstein creation.
byonge@lonepinetv.com
My favorite monster is a demon. Something reminiscent from my religious background I suppose, or perhaps I was a little to young when I watched The Exorcist.
waitmantwillie at hotmail dot com
I think the scariest monsters are humans. (Followed by animals...) When I read a book or see a movie that has supernatural monsters I am entertained but not scared. When the "monster" is "real" is when they get truly scary, for me.
I love those vampires, werewolves, ghosts, etc. but they don't really frighten me.
I like witches, all kinds-- good, bad, and ugly.
fun time on the blog tour!
dreamer dot ima at gmail dot com
My favorite monster? Hmm... Loch Ness?
kristiedonelson(at)gmail(dot)com
Keep up the good work Scott!
Forgot my contact info!
briank68{at}gmail{dot}com
I like all kinds of monsters and I'm always craving something new.
I love zombies, the Thing (John Carpenter's The Thing was very close to the creature in John W. Campbell's novella Who Goes There?). I love the creatures from Alien and Aliens.
I love the very dangerous ghosts in Kealan Patrick Burke's Timmy Quinn series and the giant monsters like Godzilla and Cloverfield. How about that scary murderous creature in Dean Koontz's Phantoms?
So many monsters and so little time . . . I can't pick just one.
Thanks for the contest,
Greg "The Undead Rat" Fisher
theundeadrat (@) gmail (.) com
Gotta love the vampires. They're civilized and yet...batsheite crazy. ^_^
schalazeal @ gmail . com
Don't have a favorite yet...hoping to find it in Drummer Boy
xox
Nancy
hufflepuffgrl13@yahoo.com
Vampires are my favorite...writers can take whatever poetic license they want as long as they create a great story to read!
:) Ren (blndmschf1969@yahoo.com)
Yes, I love Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies,Frankenstein, Mummies, King Kong, Godzilla and all the other ghouls & goblins I grew up with. But my favorite has to be The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He was scary, but you could not help but feel compassion for him and his plight. He was made a monster not born one, which made him uncomfortably real. And in the end he taught us that it wasn't him, but us, who are the real monsters.
My earliest memories (like 1-3) are of sitting up in the middle of the night with my Mom watching old movies like Gidget or A Summer Place and/or being with my Dad watching The Werewolf, Dracula, The Mummy etc. The ones with Lon Chaney and Bella Lagosi (one of which told my Mom I was a beautiful baby boy (lol) when I was a few months old in the unemployment line in San Diego County in '67). Anyway, my point is that my heart will always love the originals because they take me back to good memories.
Michele
nedsped at verizon dot net
Vampires all the way, but not the sparklie ones!!
What’s my favorite monster? Um … well … gee, I …
ZOMBIES! Hence the stupid amount of fiction I write about them. I’ve written four zombie novels, working on a fifth, some zombie short stories, have drawn pictures of them, sometimes feel like them (and, in the morning, usually look like them), seen all kinds of movies, read books, and even published a whole slew of them through my company, Coscom Entertainment. (http://www.coscomentertainment.com)
Yeah, zombies. Even started to geek out this past weekend at comic con because they had a zombie makeover table set up and you could get all ghouled out complete with prosthetics. Insane!
Second favorite: werewolves. I tend to look a lot like them.
Coscomentertainment [at] gmail [dot] com
www.canisterx.com
POSSESSION OF THE DEAD and ZOMBIE FIGHT NIGHT (and others) for just TWO BUCKS at the Amazon Kindle store. Grab your copies here!
The worst monsters are politicians! EEEK! I've also got a monster in my... O' never mind! I'm B-A-C-K!!!!!
Cheers!
I love vampires. They are always my favorite monsters...with any kind of shapeshifters being second.
heatwave96(at)hotmail.com
New Scott Nicholson book? Hell yeah!
smd (at) texoma (dot) net
I love Vampires when they are evil and scary. Tired of the Emo Vampires.
Zombies have been done to death (pardon the pun.)
What I really love is a good haunted house novel either haunted by ghosts of the mind or of the spirit. Hell House and the Haunting stand up there with my favorite horror novels of all time.
What a creative mind!
hmhenderson AT yahoo DOT com
I prefer vampires.
aikychien at yahoo dot com
Thanks, everyone, entries here capped at 117! Keep following and let's put AS I DIE LYING on the bestseller list this weekend so I can give you an extra Kindle 3.
@Michele--that would explain a lot!
@Monster welcome back--we missed you
@Ima Witches! They are a little underexposed at the moment.
Good luck and see you guys down the road, and thanks to the Blog with Bite team for hosting the tour.
Scott Nicholson
I'm a retro Monster lover! Gimme a Godzilla or Universal Dracula any day over the blood-n-guts spillin' machete wielders that furnish the freakin fodder for today's fantastical feature unrich films!
It's all about the people, even when the people have fangs or sprout 300 feet into the air.
Anywho, glad to participate. Hope all is well with everyone.
saganmov1@yahoo.com
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