AN ASYLUM OF HORROR!

Meet DEVLIN GIROUX 

 horror author and my latest victim
as he introduces his latest work

Asylum Echoes

and answers the questions in the

Bwahahaha Halloween Interview!

You're the last person to die in your favorite horror movie, what's the name of the movie and how do you die?

        Circus Comes to Town.

        It’s almost over. Everything has fallen into place so very well. But what’s this? No! How did they survive? It can’t end this way. Smile now, but I’ll be back. And you won’t be here to stop me!

        Yes, I’m the diabolical ringmaster of a demented circus in my favorite movie. What? You thought I would be the good guy? Where did it say I had to be the good guy?

In a remake of one of the Friday the 13^th movies – you play Jason – what would be your method of execution for all your victims?

        I always enjoyed it when Jason got creative with his choice of weapon. I’d have to do the same and take advantage of whatever was around. Of course, nothing goes better with that iconic hockey mask than a pitted machete.

In a remake of Halloween, you are one of the victims – describe the scene and your grisly death.

        Summer is nearing its end, the night cold, leaves making a stealthy escape impossible. Maybe I can buy my friends a few precious moments to get away…put some distance between them and the thing stalking us. I fall back from the rest, out of their sight so as not to cause them to stop out of misplaced concern. I hear the maniac’s stride, constant and strong. Tightening my grip on the machete, I turn to face the masked fiend. It doesn’t take long, but as my weapon breaks in the thing’s grip, I know my friends at least have a chance now.

In a remake of the 1974 movie Young Frankenstein – which character would you play and why.

Would have to be Frankenstein. I’m a sucker for physical comedy.

In the Walking Dead, you and another character have survived the zombies, so far. You're on the move, but the individual with you is a wimpy scaredy cat, but oh so hot, still they keep drawing attention to you and your position and it's almost certain they will get you killed. What do you do - leave them for the zombies and save yourself? Or take pity on them, because their hotness makes up for their stupidity, and teach them not to be a wimp? Or do you have another solution.

        If there are rotting bags of unending hunger running around giving humanity the big nom in a world without working toilets, a person’s hotness is the least of my concerns. Either the person in question gets it right in a hurry or joins the shambling horde without even a proper send-off. Bullets aren’t easy to come by, you know.

You're headed to a Masquerade party as your favorite horror character and at midnight, you are transformed into your character until sunrise. Who is this character and how many victims would you claim by sunrise?

        Pennywise. No question. A clown that becomes some spider-thing that drives people insane…all the good stuff in one coulrophobia-inducing package. How many victims, you ask? As many as I can make float down here.

Share with us your scariest ghost story – or nightmare – or tell us what scares you the most and why.

        This may sound strange coming from a horror writer, but it’s my fellow humans who scare me the most. The things they’re willing to do to one another makes anything I create shrink in terror. I write horror as an escape from the very real atrocities of humanity.

Share with us your favorite Halloween experience, costume, and candy.

        I don’t write about them much, but my favorite costume was a werewolf. I walked around town in a full-body, black and silver costume, no one knowing it was me. I left my candy behind at some point long forgotten and just got into character. No, I didn’t attack anyone, but slipping into that mindset was exhilarating for a night. To me, that’s just one of the wonderful things about Halloween: Being other.

 Asylum Echoes

A monster laments the changes made to conform to the modern world. A son and daughter return home to honor the father who made them. A wicked tongue refuses to stay silent.

Listen closely. The voices...the voices must be heard.

Welcome to Asylum Echoes, a collection of previously published or performed work by horror writer Devlin Giroux. Artwork by award-winning tattoo artist Mike Davis. Cover photography by fellow dark artist David Crippen.

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Devlin's other works can be found here:

DemonicVisions 

Potter’sField 

FantasticHorror’s Good vs. Evil

La Petite Morgue Links:

This is a horror theatre in New York that has chosen a couple of my plays for their readings and showcases.

http://lapetitemorgue.blogspot.com/

https://www.facebook.com/LaPetiteMorgue

Devlin Giroux lives in Michigan where he is at work on his first novel, numerous short stories, and live horrors for the stage. Besides his efforts for the Lost Word, other works have surfaced at Dark River Press, TREI Literary, Night Terrors Magazine, Flashes in the Dark, and Fantastic Horror’s anthology: Good vs. Evil. His one-act horror play, Jester, was part of La Petite Morgue’s Fresh Blood series in New York, meaning a play he wrote made it there before him. This fact keeps him awake at night.

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A GRIZZLY HORROR

I am truly honored that Gary Pennick caretaker of

Penny the Jack Russell terrier
and modest internet superstar

has agreed to give us his answers to the

Bwahahaha Halloween Interview!

Please enjoy Gary's horror stories and then jump on over

to Denise Covey's Blog  L'Aussie Writer

she's hosting me today. The subject:

Why I chose An Alaskan Setting 
for my murder trilogy.
Oh, and don't forget the
W...E...P Halloween Haunting 
post due on 
October 30th! 
Have you signed up?

AND NOW TO GARY'S ANSWERS!

You're the last person to die in your favorite horror movie, what's the name of the movie and how do you die?

I wish I'd been the first person to die in my favourite horror movie, "Caligula", which was a horror, as such. Seeing the guy's dangly bits being fed to a bulldog was enough for me. It turns out that out I wasn't actually in my favourite horror movie and was stuck in the movie "Groundhog Day." I finally die, I think I finally die when, "Punxsutawney Phil", legendary groundhog, decides to, "Gobbler's Knob" me and I die a painful death. 

In a remake of one of the Friday the 13th movies – you play the killer or Jason what would be your method of execution for all your victims?

Ah yes, I remember the first twelve movies about Friday. My method of execution for all my victims would have to be tying them down, prying open their eyes and force them to watch reruns of "Glee Club." They would die a horrible death as their brains would explode with all the gosh darn giggly fun being forced upon them.  

In a remake of Halloween, you are one of the victims – describe the scene and your grizzly / grisly death.

A grizzly death!  I'm knocked over by a very heavy dude wearing a grizzly bear costume.  He is stumbling home from a Halloween party.  After knocking me over, he crushes me to death.  It doesn't bear thinking about.

In a remake of the 1974 movie Young Frankenstein – which character would you play and why.

I would play the part of Frau Blücher because I always wanted to be a forbidding housekeeper.  In fact, uttering such a name would cause horses to rear up and neigh madly in fright.  Don't nag the nag, me thinks.  

In the Walking Dead, you and another character have survived the zombies, so far. You're on the move, but the individual with you is a wimpy scaredy cat, but oh so hot, still they keep drawing attention to you and your position and it's almost certain they will get you killed. What do you do - leave them for the zombies and save yourself? Or take pity on them, because their hotness makes up for their stupidity, and teach them not to be a wimp? Or do you have another solution.

I'm going to have the best of both worlds.  I shall give her a long, lingering kiss which shall shut her up. Then, just when I've got the zombies moving past us, I shall throw her to them and get the hell out of there.  This reply was typed in front of a dead studio audience......

You're headed to a Masquerade party as your favorite horror character and at midnight, you are transformed into your character until sunrise. Who is this character and how many victims would you claim by sunrise?

At the stroke of midnight, I turn into my all time favourite horror character.  Until sunrise, I become David Cameron, Prime Minister of Britain. During my delusional state, I claim several thousand vulnerable people as my victims. I take all their money and give it to my rich banking friends. 

Share with us your scariest ghost story – or nightmare – or tell us what scares you the most and why.

I have a fear of success.  My comfort zone is actually an uncomfortable comfort zone.  

Share with us your favorite Halloween experience, costume, and candy.

My favourite Halloween experience was the time I owned a house in Langley, British Columbia.  It was great fun handing out candy to all those kids. Now that I live in England, no kids come to my door trick or treating.  In a way, that's good because I can eat all the candy that the kids who never came to my door could of had.  I went to a party dressed as Bob McKenzie and my then wife, dressed as Doug McKenzie.  You know of Bob and Doug? Two famous Canadians, eh.  

My favourite candy was those toffees wrapped in Halloween themed wrappers.

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Greetings, I've been honoured to have my blog "klahanie" featured on the B.B.C.'s radio station "Radio 5 Live." On a show titled: "Pods and Blogs", I tried to highlight in my interview, that it's time to eliminate the unfair stigma that's still attached to mental health issues. I firmly believe that the media can help redress the balance. How about sensationalizing the positive recovery stories rather than the negative stereotypes that people with mental health issues have to endure? I'm a man challenging his 'inner critic.' I will not 'surrender' to my symptoms. I give myself permission to be positive. I try to live my life with positive anticipation. I refuse to let negative speculation overwhelm me. We all have the right to peace and contentment. I want to give others positive affirmations. I'm not daunted by my loneliness. For in my solitude, I have discovered a determined resilience. I care passionately for people who have been undermined in an unjust world. I challenge the stigma that still surrounds mental health issues.

Right then, my blog, or should I say, Penny the Jack Russell dog and modest internet superstar's blog can be found here 

: klahanie

I'm on Farcebook, um, Facebook, here : Gary Philip Pennick

And yep, Twitter, here : chelseacanadian

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A LUNAR HORROR!

Meet Jim Ringel the newest victim of the

Bwahahaha Halloween Interview

and fellow CQP author.

Be afraid, be very afraid!

You're the last person to die in your favorite horror movie, what's the name of the movie and how do you die? 

My favorite horror movie of all time – Nicholas Roeg’s DON’T LOOK NOW. Imagine it. You live in an English manor with a pond on the property. You’re married to Julie Christie, and you have a beautiful four year old daughter. Until one rainy day, your daughter drowns in the pond. She’s dressed in her favorite red cape, which weighs her down and pulls her to her death. You frantically wade in after her, but it’s too late. She’s dead. Julie blames you. She grows cold toward you, and delusional, insisting the girl can’t be dead, asking how could you let her die? 

To help your family heal, you move them to Venice, where the city is plagued by a series of murders, and where you are haunted by glimpses of a young girl, in a red cape, running from you in the night. About an hour and a half into the movie, you follow that Little Red Riding Hood girl. You do not believe your daughter is still alive, but Julie insists she is, and that you’re not looking for her hard enough. So you follow that girl into a dark church, which is abandoned and undergoing renovation.

There you corner the girl in an upstairs choir loft. She laughs, and when she does she sounds just like your daughter. You ask why she ran, and she turns to face you. She runs toward you. Only now you realize, she’s not your daughter. She’s no little girl at all. She’s a witch, and she carries a long blade, and she slices your neck as you kneel down, imploring her to come back to the land of the living, while all this time she’s been luring you to the land of the murdered, and the dead. That’s my favorite horror movie, although I have a few others. 

In a remake of one of Friday the 13^th movies – you play Jason – what would be your method of execution for all your victims? 

In the dark of the night, I would visit my victims in their homes. Ringing their doorbells, I’d wait on their porches until they invited me in. I’d sit at their kitchen tables. I’d take my hat off, but not my coat, I’d keep my coat on just the way it was. 

I’d open my brief case, and I’d pull out brochures, and paperwork, and I’d go into a lengthy presentation on the necessity for insurance. I’d spend all night, into the wee hours of the morning, selling them – whole life, property & casualty, health, auto, flood. And before it ended, I’d pitch them on burial insurance too. There’d be paperwork to fill out, and fine print. Little squinty fine print. And lots and lots of riders. Endless amounts of riders.

In a remake of Halloween, you are one of the victims – describe the scene and your grisly death. 

So I’m down at the asylum, and I figure, “Well, it’s got to be safe here, because it’s Halloween, and that means Mike Myers escaped again.”  So I decide to celebrate and make myself a sandwich. I notice the cafeteria has my favorite white bread, and there’s slimy pink baloney in the fridge. Except on the package it’s spelled Bologna, like the way that character actor, Joe Bologna, spelled his name in the credits of these forgettable movies he was in during the seventies, and the eighties, and the nineties (he never went away, he was in everything), until he eventually wound up doing voice work for animated features in the 2000’s. 

I pile that bologna on thick, just like Joe Bologna used to do when performing one of his roles, and I slather Joe with mayo. And then I eat. By the time I’m half way into the sandwich, only then do I realize that the mayo’s gone bad. My stomach gurgles. I double over. I can’t breathe. An ambulance comes and takes to me the local hospital, where all the doctors are dressed like nurses, and all the nurses are dressed like they’re dead, because, you know, it’s Halloween, and even doctors and nurses got to let of a little steam. The guy at the admission desk tells me my insurance only lets me check into a semi-private room, which I have to share with a guy named Myers. I’m nervous now. I ask if I can have a sandwich. A guy in a mask tells me I’m not going to need one. I’m feeling too sick to ask why not.

In a remake of the 1974 movie Young Frankenstein – which character would you play and why. 

I’d play the blind hermit who the Frankenstein monster meets after escaping the castle, because I never saw Young Frankenstein, so being a blind guy seems most appropriate. 

In the Walking Dead, you and another character have survived the zombies, so far. You're on the move, but the individual with you is a wimpy scaredy cat, but oh so hot, still they keep drawing attention to you and your position and it's almost certain they will get you killed. What do you do - leave them for the zombies and save yourself? Or take pity on them, because their hotness makes up for their stupidity, and teach them not to be a wimp? Or do you have another solution. 

Stupidity quickly cools the “hot” in any woman. She’s bait. Send her left; I’ll go right. Let her give herself away to the zombies, not me. Once they got her though, I’d circle back to see if her “zombiazation” has made her any hotter than before, and perhaps less annoying. 

You're headed to a Masquerade party as your favorite horror character and at midnight, you are transformed into your character until sunrise. Who is this character and how many victims would you claim by sunrise? 

I’m dressed as Senator Ted Cruz. I wear a huge Ted Cruz head, only not as big as Senator Cruz’s actual head because that would make it hard to maintain balance. At midnight I turn into Ted Cruz. I snicker endlessly at the misfortunes of others. I recite lines that I memorized back in high school debate class. I have a self-delusional concept of my own importance because people tell me I am the smartest politician in all of Texas. In the morning, when I’ve been transformed back into my original self, I hear an empty wind blowing through the vast wasteland of ruin which surrounds me, which before I arrived they used to call America.

Share with us your scariest ghost story – or nightmare – or tell us what scares you the most and why. 

Years before finishing my first novel, and perhaps it was even years before I started writing at all, I had a dream that I was giving birth. And that seems odd, because I’m a guy, and guys don’t give birth all that frequently. I remember how cramped I felt – dare I say, constipated – and that it took a long time, although it was dream time, so not really too long. 

And when I’d finished, I looked down over my belly through my spread-apart knees, and a nurse with a horrid expression leaned into view saying, “Look it. Look at what you did.” And there, on the hospital floor, ripping down intravenous bottles, breaking hospital lights, smashing things to the floor, and clawing at nurses uniforms and doctors’ faces, there was a newly-born wild man, covered in hair, moving about the room like a drunk chimpanzee, doing mischief. And I remember next in the dream, I found myself walking from one devastated town to another, each looking like it had been torn apart by catastrophe, and I’d say to anyone who would listen, “Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t know this was going to happen. He’s just a little wild man, that’s all.”

Share with us your favorite Halloween experience, costume, and candy.  

Halloween night. The doorbell rings. It’s close to zero degrees, but that’s a typical Halloween here in Colorado. I answer the door with a bowlful of candy. There’s one lone kid standing there. He doesn’t say “Trick or Treat”. He doesn’t say anything. He’s dressed like a fat, little ghost, wearing a Stetson and big over-sized sunglasses. I ask if he’s cold, but he just stands there, frozen. He’s not right in front of the door. He keeps his distance, maybe five feet back. He holds open his bag. He’s been holding it like that since first opened the door. I ask if he wants candy, but he doesn’t say anything. I step out of the house to bring him his choices, to let him choose whether he wants a Babe Ruth or a Snickers. I’m wearing only my orange Broncos jersey and sweatpants, and instantly they’re cold against my skin. I have goose bumps. Then the frigid Halloween wind whips up, and it slams the door shut behind me. I’m locked out, but the kid doesn’t move. He just stands there with his bag open. From the bushes, I can hear children laughing. 

Wolf by Jim Ringel

Curiosity Quill Press

November 2013

Blurb:

Johnny Wolfe carries his dog Sindra in a vial that he keeps in his pocket.  He carries her out of loyalty.  He carries her out of guilt.  He carries her because there are no more dogs in this world. And he carries her to connect to her feral nature, so that he might take her inside himself and feel her animal wildness.  

Johnny’s life is in shambles.  His sales career at Bulldog Enterprises is on the blink. On his way to work one day, he witnesses a colleague being killed by a dog. But with dogs now extinct, how is this possible? Can he believe what’s he’s seeing? Going through his colleague’s dead body, Johnny discovers the man is carrying a rather sizeable sales order. Needing a sale, and figuring “he’s dead, I’m not”, Johnny decides to place the order as his own. 

Except he can’t figure out what product the colleague was selling.  And as he gets closer to understanding the product, Johnny realizes it has more and more to do with why the dogs are returning, and why they’re so angry, and why their anger is so focused on him.

Jim Ringel Bio

By day, Jim Ringel does sales. By night, he writes spooky bits of horror. Pick your poison. His first novel, WOLF, comes out from Curiosity Quills Press in November, 2013. 

You can find Jim on his blog

Spooky Writer &Health Care Advisor: Pick your Poison

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