The worst rite of passage
Horror movies I watched with my father
January was already not my favorite month ever. Elon Musk Donald Trump was inaugurated. David Lynch died. Then, in the final days of the month, my dad passed away. It was unexpected; he had gone to the gym a couple of days before. I may have said “Well it’s official, 2025 is already complete shit” at the dinner table in front of my 14 year old.
Losing a parent is the shitty middle age rite of passage we don’t really want to think about until it happens to us. I was fortunate to have had a great relationship with my dad. He was proud and supportive of everything I did (which extended to getting some of his many friends to buy my books. Hope they like speculative thrillers about angry women!) But the unavoidable fact of growing older is that you start losing everyone who remembers what you were like as a toddler, and it’s for the birds.
Which (quick segue from grief because I should discuss my emotional avoidance issues in therapy and not on my newsletter lol1) is a film I watched at least once with my father. I get a lot of my love for weird speculative stories from him. He was a pretty wholesome guy (started his educator career as a second grade teacher; steadfastly rooted for the Lions) but was also very into vintage sci-fi and horror while I was growing up.
Godzilla (1954)
The symbolism of a Japanese film about a monster brought forth by a bomb, made nine years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is pretty obvious. Not that my ten-year-old self understood it; I just thought the effects were cheesy. But Godzilla was a forerunner of the popular subgenre of kaiju films.
The Twilight Zone (1959-1964)
One of my first memories is of this indelible opening theme, paired with Rod Serling’s narration. The man was an absolute idea machine, and more than half a century later you can still see the marks of some of these episodes on our culture. (“Time Enough at Last”? That shit is terrifying!!!) Many episodes had a clear moral and/or a twist at the end. Most played on some aspect of human frailty, while the best of them got at true, underlying human emotion.
Village of the Damned (1960)
I remember actually liking this movie a lot, because it was about children (off-putting, terrifying, homicidal children). There might have been an element of wish fulfillment (what can I say, I was a weird kid).2 If Godzilla kicked off kaiju films, this one blazed a trail for the “spooky kids” subgenre.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
George Romero’s first feature film, starring Duane Jones as the only person who knows what the hell he’s doing. Not the first zombie movie, but definitely a standout.
Author updates
It’s been pretty quiet! The writing cave phase of authordom often is, and I am a slow writer. But I have a few things coming down the road that I can hopefully share soon!
Weird thing I am researching
I’ve been interested in synthesizers since I had a Juno-60 many years ago (now long gone, of course). Lately I’ve been doing a deep dive into synth history and their place in the current musical landscape. Phil Sirocco’s account of restoring a Novachord, the first commercially available synthesizer from 1938, is fascinating.
Reading/watching/listening
I’m reading Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai: a heartwarming friends-to-lovers story with magic and a richly imagined world. I’m loving this book so far.
I’m watching this guy’s videos:
I’m listening: Not only did Phil Sirocco restore a 1930s Novachord synthesizer, he also put out an album of delicate, Badalamenti-esque music featuring its sound.
If you enjoy my ramblings, you might like my books!
The Other Me, which PopSugar called a “Black Mirror-esque rabbit hole,” is an inventive page-turner about the choices we make and the ones made for us.
When I’m Her asks the question: How far would you go to get even with the woman who ruined your life?
Am I even an Xennial if I don’t use the emotional support “lol”
I also imprinted on Firestarter, both the book and the film, so clearly I had an interest in children with supernatural powers that let them redress perceived wrongs with maximum violence.
I'm so sorry to hear about your dad <3