Western Movies, Haken – Fauna Album Review, RiffTrax Live 2023: RAD, and Horror Holiday Movie Trivia Answers

Western Movies and a Puzzle!

Greetings everyone. Thanks for hosting me, Alex, and helping me get the word out about Return to Silverhills.

Western movies have had a major impact on my writing. The two that influenced me the most were BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID and THE COMANCHEROS. See if you can find these titles in the puzzle below:

A	F	J	N	T	W	Y	A	N	D	G	K
O	K	I	D	Z	S	A	G	N	Y	Q	P
R	M	V	B	G	U	J	L	Q	D	W	H
C	C	O	M	A	N	C	H	E	R	O	S
I	D	E	K	O	D	A	B	F	R	Z	L
O	S	H	N	E	A	S	P	C	W	I	R
T	X	B	C	T	N	S	U	H	D	X	T
H	A	U	S	Z	C	I	G	K	I	E	V
E	C	T	Y	F	E	D	B	V	L	F	S
U	J	C	P	J	A	Y	K	T	H	E	D
E	H	H	L	Q	X	B	U	M	Z	M	I

Return to Silverhills by Sandra Cox
A trail boss with a fast gun. A damaged woman. A cattle drive fraught with danger. And a combustible attraction.
Find it on Amazon

Sandra, who also writes as S. Cox, is a vegetarian, animal lover and avid gardener. She lives with her husband, their dog and cats in sunny North Carolina. An award-winning author, her stories consist of all things Western and more.

Foodie Facts:
She spent a number of years in the Midwest chasing down good Southern BBQ. By the time she moved to North Carolina where Southern BBQ is practically a staple, she’d become a vegetarian.
Pineapple is a must-have on pizza, along with black olives and onions.
She loves pumpkin waffles. Pumpkin cream cheese, not so much.

You can find her at: Website, Cowboy Trivia, Blog, and Twitter

Haken – Fauna Album Review

One of my favorite bands and the flag bearer of modern progressive metal.
The last two albums were extremely heavy but this album takes a decidedly different turn and goes back to their more traditional progressive roots.
It’s one of my favorite Haken albums of all time. Every song is great and contains so many amazing standout moments that I love so much about progressive music.
There are hints of their prog root throughout the album, including hints of Yes and other prog bands.
It’s a true joy to listen to music that gets better and better every time you listen to it. Like opening up a present and there are a thousand more presents inside. The musicianship is stellar, the vocals by Ross Jennings are amazing.
My highest recommendation!

RiffTrax Live!

From their Kickstarter page:

RiffTrax Live 2023: RAD -- the Classic 1986 BMX Movie!
We're riffing RAD starring Lori Loughlin & Bart Conner - LIVE from Nashville and simulcast to 700+ cinemas nationwide August 17, 2023!

They have already soared over their goal and are now offering stretch goals, including an eBook – Nick Nolte: PI – and tons of shorts.

You can still back them on Kickstarter at various levels and get some cool stuff.

Like this:

Either way, mark your calendar – August 17!

Horror Holiday Movie Trivia Answers

Last week I asked: from the blurb, name the movie and the holiday.

The Answers:

1 – A young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town. 1984 – Gremlins, Christmas
2 – Jack Skellington, king of Halloween Town, discovers Christmas Town, but his attempts to bring Christmas to his home causes confusion. 1993 – The Nightmare Before Christmas, Halloween
3 – In a small town, brutal killings start to plague the close knit community. Marty Coslaw, a paraplegic boy, is convinced the murders are the doings of a werewolf. 1985 – Silver Bullet, Fourth of July
4 – Two death-obsessed sisters, outcasts in their suburban neighborhood, must deal with the tragic consequences when one of them is bitten by a deadly werewolf. 2000 – Ginger Snaps, Halloween
5 – A private investigator is hired by a man who calls himself Louis Cyphre to track down a singer named Johnny Favorite. But the investigation takes an unexpected and somber turn. 1987 – Angel Heart, New Year’s Eve
6 - Chaos breaks out in a small Maryland town after an ecological disaster occurs. 2012 – The Bay, Fourth of July

How did you do on the puzzle? Fan of Westerns? Hear the new Haken? Excited about a new RiffTrax? Ever backed a show or seen one in the theater? How did you do on the horror movie trivia?
See you April 5 for the next IWSG day!

Holiday Horror Movies, In Flames and Insomnium Album Reviews, Movie and TV News, and Holiday Horror Movie Trivia!

Holiday Horror Movies with Shannon Lawrence

When someone says “the holidays” we often leap to that time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, but we have a TON of holidays throughout the year. There are plenty of ways those other holidays can be scary. Here are a few horror films involving holidays found in Happy Ghoulidays II:

Easter – A mainstream film is Bless the Child, starring Kim Basinger. Easter plays an ominous part in this film. A young girl is kidnapped by a Satanic cult seeking her powers.

St. Patrick’s Day – The obvious film here is Leprechaun, starring Jennifer Aniston and Warwick Davis. An escaped leprechaun wants his gold, and he’ll do anything to find it.

Fourth of July – This may be the most popular holiday for horror films except for Christmas. There are a ton of mainstream gems among them, including Jaws, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Cape Fear, and Independence Day, giving us creature features, a slasher, a thriller, and even sci-fi action.

Halloween – Funnily enough, most Halloween movies aren’t horror, or they’re horror for kids. Halloween is an exception, as is Trick r’ Treat, an anthology of short horror films set at Halloween. Not what you’d expect, right? It’s likely because October is the month people seek out horror, even if it’s not something they watch normally, which makes all horror films Halloween films.

While some holidays have fewer horror films, there’s likely a horror film involving any holiday of your choice somewhere out there. If you want several at once, check out the horror anthology film Holidays, which will scratch your itch for a bunch.

Happy Ghoulidays II
Release Date: March 17, 2023
The holidays elicit a mixture of emotions, from joy and revelry to despair and rage. In these stories, we examine the dark side of the holidays with a twisted Easter egg hunt, a desperate St. Patrick's Day curse, a monster that's only visible in the light of fireworks, a mother's guilt on Halloween, and more in this follow up to Happy Ghoulidays that embraces the underlying shadows of our favorite holidays.
Available for pre-order on Kindle, Nook, Apple, Scribd, and Smashwords here

A fan of all things fantastical and frightening, Shannon Lawrence writes primarily horror and fantasy. Her stories can be found in over forty anthologies and magazines, and her three solo horror short story collections and her nonfiction title are available now, with her fourth collection releasing March 2023. You can also find her as a co-host of the podcast Mysteries, Monsters, & Mayhem. When she's not writing, she's hiking through the wilds of Colorado and photographing her magnificent surroundings, where, coincidentally, there's always a place to hide a body or birth a monster. Find her at The Warrior Muse and Mysteries Monsters Mayhem podcast

Album Reviews

In Flames – Foregone

Think of this as everything that In Flames has ever done put into a blender to create the most delicious Gothenburg metal smoothie ever.
Everybody wrote these guys off but apart from a misstep here and there, I’ve enjoyed all their albums. This one is old style In Flames meets new style In Flames and the results is amazing. Fans of early In Flames will find a lot to love.
Two tracks that will melt your face off are Foregone Part I and Foregone Part II.
Highly Recommended

Insomnium – Anno 1696

For my money, nobody does melodic death metal like Insomnium.
Skirting the line between mellow death and prog, this concept album is Insomnium doing what they do best.
Lyrically the album deals with the year 1696 and covers religious persecution, witch hunts, and a creature that lurks in the dark Finnish forest.
If you are looking for happy, upbeat music, this album is not for you. It’s a dark ride that deals with the unfortunate history of Finland during that time period.
Highly recommended if you are a true metal fan.

Movie and Television News

Season three of The Mandalorian is back!!
The first episode was good. As the t-shirt says, I’m not procrastinating, I’m doing side quests. And that is what the Mandalorian begins doing to achieve his ultimate goal. The pirate chase seemed odd though.
It will be interesting to see where this goes.



From the JoBlo site: A Disturbance in the Force: Documentary about the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special will premiere at SXSW
The worst misstep in the Star Wars franchise (even worse than Episodes I-III) gets a documentary
A Disturbance in the Force is a new film from Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak that is determined to find out just what led to such an abomination to make it to air. I bet the documentary is a thousand times better than the film itself! (Which is only watchable thanks to RiffTraks.)

Movie Trivia

Since Shannon is talking about horror and holidays, here are some films for you.
From the blurb, name the movie and the holiday. (Yes, double points!)

1 – A young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town. 1984
2 – Jack Skellington, king of Halloween Town, discovers Christmas Town, but his attempts to bring Christmas to his home causes confusion. 1993
3 – In a small town, brutal killings start to plague the close knit community. Marty Coslaw, a paraplegic boy, is convinced the murders are the doings of a werewolf. 1985
4 – Two death-obsessed sisters, outcasts in their suburban neighborhood, must deal with the tragic consequences when one of them is bitten by a deadly werewolf. 2000
5 – A private investigator is hired by a man who calls himself Louis Cyphre to track down a singer named Johnny Favorite. But the investigation takes an unexpected and somber turn. 1987
6 - Chaos breaks out in a small Maryland town after an ecological disaster occurs. 2012

Answers next week!

What holiday horror films do you like? Heard either new album? Watching The Mandalorian? Excited to see A Disturbance in the Force? And do you know any of the trivia movies?
We also need one or two more co-hosts for the IWSG posting April 5 – let me know if you can help.
Be back next week with another special guest!

Insecure Writer’s Support Group, What to Watch, and March Movie Preview

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.

The awesome co-hosts for the March 1 posting of the IWSG are Diedre Knight, Tonya Drecker, Bish Denham, Olga Godim, and JQ Rose!

March 1 question - Have you ever read a line in a novel or a clever plot twist that caused you to have author envy?

Not so much envy as admiration. Several Agent Pendergast (authors Preston and Child) have clever twists. Such as in Relic. (Spoiler alert.) The creature was originally human. Did not see that coming! And such brilliant writing. Yeah, I admire those guys.

We may not be doing anymore IWSG anthologies, but the IWSG Anthologies blog shall continue to rock on! The anthology authors and IWSG admins will continue to contribute to the site with some awesome articles. So don’t miss any!

What to Watch

Right now – not much! However…

Clarkson’s Farm, Season Two

Yes, Jeremy Clarkson is back and farming badly for a second season!

Right off the bat – he decides to give up the sheep and instead buys cows for a restaurant project that he’s not even gotten approval for from the city council. (Who by the way, hate all the traffic his farm shop and celebrity status have brought to the area.)

There’s the pole he runs into, the tractor on two wheels, badgers with TB, and impregnating cows. (Not that I saw that last one!) Plus Gerald, whom no one understands due to his thick accent. And of course his helper Kaleb who is a smart ass, but he does know his farming. Much, much more than Jeremy. Thus, the hilarity ensues.

Highly recommended!

March Movie Preview

Here are the theatrical releases for March. Descriptions courtesy of the IMDB. Snark provided by me.

3 –

Creed III
Director – Michael B. Jordan
Stars – Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Jonathan Majors
Adonis has been thriving in both his career and family life, but when a childhood friend and former boxing prodigy resurfaces, the face-off is more than just a fight.
Creed III making the bold assumption I even knew there was a Creed II.

10 –

65
Director – Scott Beck, Bryan Woods
Stars – Adam Driver, Ariana Greenblatt, Chloe Coleman
An astronaut crash lands on a mysterious planet only to discover he's not alone.
Does the Force work on dinosaurs?

17 –

Shazam! Fury of the Gods
Director – David F. Sandberg
Stars – Zachary Levi, Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu
The film continues the story of teenage Billy Batson who, upon reciting the magic word "SHAZAM!" is transformed into his adult Super Hero alter ego, Shazam.
Shazam family goes on road trip to fight evil gods – now, where’s the Winnebago?

24 –

John Wick: Chapter 4
Director – Chad Stahelski
Stars – Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgard
John Wick uncovers a path to defeating The High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and forces that turn old friends into foes.
Perhaps two hours and forty-nine minutes of Reeves shooting people in the head is a bit excessive?

31 –

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Directors – John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein
Stars – Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Hugh Grant
A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers embark on an epic quest to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people.
I hope this movie doesn’t roll a 1…

Something in a novel give you author envy? Watched Clarkson’s Farm? And which movies catch your eye for March?
Tune in next Monday when I have a special guest!