This is a short form podcast where I talk about horror, pop culture, and my own writing and creative endeavors. Come on in and have a seat!
Foggy
Today is one of those foggy days. I hate foggy days. My brain feels slower. My reaction time feels slower. I feel like I have to overcompensate for everything. The machine is still running but it’s sluggish and takes longer to warm up. I hate it. I have these foggy days more than I have… Continue reading Foggy
A Show For Ghouls
With the group I work with here in Flint, the Flint Horror Collective, we create events through the year to bring a little weirdness and horror to the area. We have been doing our thing since 2011 and it’s always fun to think of new events that we can do. For the past few years… Continue reading A Show For Ghouls
Forward
In early 2019 I was able to finish a long gestating story I had started years and years ago called ROAD KILL. It was the story of two kids up to go no good, to put it in the mildest of senses. It was a story/book I had begun as a kid but had lost.… Continue reading Forward
HEY! I read a book – NOS4A2
Now this is not a post begging congratulating me on finishing a book. While I deserve it, because I was a Big Boy and read the book all on my own, the fact is that I can actually read, and pretty well. I just, well, I don’t read a lot. Books that is. I got… Continue reading HEY! I read a book – NOS4A2
Thankful
Around this time of year it’s natural to look to the past, to assess the present, and to think about the future. It’s natural and it’s good. Good to remember where we were, where we are, and where we wanna be. Perspective. It’s all about perspective. The trouble is when we stay too long in… Continue reading Thankful
Make It Yours
When it comes to the end of the year and holidays, we sure do get possessive of things. Our Once In A While faith becoming ingrained dogma so that anyone that doesn’t celebrate things the way we feel that they should is shamed and castigated. You’re Doing It Wrong we shout! How Dare You! We… Continue reading Make It Yours
Through
When I was a kid I had a handful of things I wanted to do. I wanted to do the things that I thought would be fun and make my life happy. It doesn’t mean I COULD do those things, but I wanted to. The ceiling started pushing down on me though in 9th grade… Continue reading Through
Smiling Woman – short film review
I have loved movies since I was a kid. I grew up watching Disney on the television, and then Abbott & Costello and when I could go to the movies I was a student of everything I could devour. I really started to find what flavors best suited my palette though as a teenager and… Continue reading Smiling Woman – short film review
The Spooky Chris Podcast – Episode 28 The Con Game
In which I talk about conventions and my love for them and such.
TRUNK OR TREAT – story
this is my first draft rough holiday story i just concocted. i am sure there’s plenty to fix but, you can get a feel for my thought process here AND a holiday tale just in time for Halloween. Enjoy! And if you dig it, pop over to the Haunted Bookstore and check out one of… Continue reading TRUNK OR TREAT – story
I Sailed A Ship – a poem
I wrote this poem a few weeks ago, suffering the usual inspiration of hearing something and getting it caught in my brain until I wrote a piece to exorcise it. Seems fitting for the season though. I Sailed A Ship I sailed a ship so grand and gray. A ship so wide and tall. I… Continue reading I Sailed A Ship – a poem
Sharing the Scares
There is something about the power of horror that has always held my heart. A mix of the release, the nature of the storytelling, and the craftsmanship Something about how the stories unfold. Horror creators don’t get nearly the credit they deserve. It can’t be easy to write in a way that taps into the… Continue reading Sharing the Scares
IN ROOTS OF ASH sample
The following is a sample story from my newest story collection IN ROOTS OF ASH. This is one of the many stories included that tells the story of a cursed woods and the things that haunt the dark places of the world. Things older than Man and much more cunning. The Echo of the Axe… Continue reading IN ROOTS OF ASH sample
IN ROOTS OF ASH – deep dive
When I started writing the first stories that are at the hear of IN ROOTS OF ASH I was writing to tap into the mythos of the woods. I grew up in an area that had two wooded areas and we played in them all the time. We never were afraid but when we started… Continue reading IN ROOTS OF ASH – deep dive
Broken Idols
If you’re asking me, I’d offer that it’s a fool that makes idols of people. We’re a fallible lot. We are mistakes tumbling through history trying to pick up enough good deeds along the way to outshine the trouble we cause or get into. People are a mess. Humans are the dumpster fires of the… Continue reading Broken Idols
In Roots Of Ash – coming in October
This year has been one with lots of writing and this book is the result of some of that writing. For many years I have been writing about the Sisters Six, six sisters who were tree in form but were indeed witches of the woods who offered to give someone one wish/desire…for a price. An… Continue reading In Roots Of Ash – coming in October
Both
We have a tendency to see things one way. Good. Bad. That’s it. It’s a good thing or a bad thing. A person is a good person or a bad person. There is very little room for nuance. There is little room for reality. Good. Bad. The thing though is that we’re both. I have… Continue reading Both
The Spooky Chris Podcast Episode 24
In which I talk about my love of folk tale horror and SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK.
The Spotlight
If I had to tell you who on earth decides to undertake event coordination as an avocation, you know, for funsies, I’d break it down into two types of people. The person in it for themselves. The person in it for the community. Now, that isn’t to say that the person more focused on the… Continue reading The Spotlight
The Spooky Chris Podcast Episode 23 – The Pitch
In which I decide to pitch my MEEP SHEEP trilogy to you so you can, you know, option it for a long running series and such.
Spooky Chris Podcast Episode 22
In which I talk about the artists and creators working in the darkness of obscurity.
The Titans
I always read as a kid. There was so much magic to reading that it makes me sad that kids don’t seem to have that same atmosphere to grow up around. The elements are still there but there’s so much more push to be on computers, or pull to be on cell phones, that reading… Continue reading The Titans
Inspirations, Aspirations, and The Big Dumb But
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a cartoonist. I am sure that in the annals of this nonsensical blog I have talked about that to some degree. I loved drawing, all over the place, but I really loved drawing weird faces. The problem there was that I didn’t draw bodies, or scenes,… Continue reading Inspirations, Aspirations, and The Big Dumb But
Letting It Sink In
Whenever I start a project, writing, or movie, or art, or whatever, I am immediately in love. It’s the rosy red fury of infatuation and the more I work on it the deeper I fall. It’s only when I step back to look at the landscape more clearly that I start to waiver. I start… Continue reading Letting It Sink In
…Comes Around
That saying can be a blessing and curse, I suppose. King would talk about the Wheel of Ka, a sort of folksy DARK TOWER version of karma, and how it would all come around. Maybe that’s so. The good and the bad. The sin and the blessing. We, the holy damned.
Further – a story
had the germ of this in my head for a few days and had the time at a comic con i was vending at today so i wrote it.
I Chose Flint
I chose Flint. I was a late bloomer, as they like to say, but really I was just scared to death about moving out of my parent’s house. Moving out made me an adult in full and I wasn’t sure I was ready for that. I am still not sure.
The Wonders Of The World
It’s been a very dark and enlightening life, these past seven months. Since losing my job last year I have struggled to keep my head up. There’s a point where you are applying for so many jobs that you never hear from that you wonder if any of it matters at all. I kept at… Continue reading The Wonders Of The World
Spooky Chris Episode 18 – Something In The Water – Story Reading
In which I read my short story SOMETHING IN THE WATER.
Spooky Chris Podcast Episode 17 – Familiar Ghosts
In which I talk about those we lose and how they haunt us. (Pardon the audio, I recorded on my phone so it’s a little woogity).
The Big Con
I think over the years I have been writing in this blog that it’s clear enough that I love conventions. As far as I can figure, Fangoria’s WEEKEND OF HORRORS was my first (and second), with the Motor City Comic Conventions coming after and by then I was hooked. I loved conventions, the WEEKEND more… Continue reading The Big Con
Spooky Chris Podcast Ep 15 – Stoker Con 2019 day deuce
In which I talk about the first couple of day of Stoker Con 2019.
Spooky Chris Podcast Episode 13
In which I talk about the struggles we face and the need to help one another through them.
A Fall – a story
rough draft of a story i wrote this week before finding out about the loss of a friend who took their own life. this story feels very raw and real to me but i think there’s a sort of truth in that that maybe someone can get somthing from.
Spooky Chris Ep. 12 – The Nightmare on Elm Street Series
On this episode I talk about the good, bad, and downright ugly of the NIGHMARE ON ELM STREET franchise.
The Dark Days
Being just shy of forty-five, I have worked a lot of jobs. A lot of jobs. I started working when I was a teenager, doing occasional yard work for a neighbor for $5 an hour, which at the time seemed pretty amazing. From there I worked with my sister cleaning a couple offices my dad… Continue reading The Dark Days
Spooky Chris Ep 11 – Friday the 13th
Just you know, talkin’ long about my favorite slasher franchise. Dig on it.
The Burning Roots
I think I started writing about the witch trees in the early 2000s. I am not sure what made me come up with them, the idea of trees that were a sort of witch’s coven but far more powerful Far more dangerous.
Spooky Chris Episode 9 – Makin’ Movies
In which I talk about my experience making movies. Which is to say – a guy not knowing what the hell he’s doing making movies.
Spooky Chris Episode 7 – Read It Out
Remembering that, oh yeah, I am not really a big fan of reading stories in public as I just had signed up to do jus that.
Spooky Chris Episode 5 – Follow Your Passion!
In which I talk about following your passions and such.
Spooky Chris Episode 4 – A Short Story
Decided to read one of the short stories to be included in a future book. Groove on this. If you wanna buy any of my publushed books you can find them on Amazon. Just look up Chris Ringler.
Episode 3 – Over It
Talking about movie franchises that annoyed me and the ‘over it’ mentality of fandom.
Episode 2 – The Death of Digital Media
In which I talk about my love of physical media and my fear of its impending end.
Sharing the Love
I have a couple friends who are prolific writers and awesome people and wanted to help them get the word out about their newest efforts. Paul Counelis has written a LOT of stuff, has written for RUE MORGUE, and is as passionate about writing as you can get. His newest book – We Dare… Continue reading Sharing the Love
The Red Prince Is Here – ROAD KILL Out Now!
My newest book ROAD KILLis here! Take a trip to Munsonville, Michigan, wander into the haunted woods, walk among the trees, commune with the spirits…and run for your life. Available in paperback and as e-book.
The Sudden Book
In the time I have had since losing my job I have gotten a chance to write a lot. I completed and put together my novel ROAD KILL, I wrote a script for a short film I am going to make this year, I have written some short articles for a website, and finally I made… Continue reading The Sudden Book
ROAD KILL cover reveal
I have written before about my upcoming novel ROAD KILL but I wanted to talk a little more about it as I reveal its cover for the first time.
The Mystery
There is something about childhood that, once lost, it changes how you see the rest of the world. We can call it magic, mystery, or anything else but it’s that that in us that doesn’t understand everything…and it’s OK.
The Change
In this rapidly changing world I think we tend to lose sight of the fact that we want and oft times demand things of people at a speed that is unreasonable. We want to put the past on trial every few years, looking at it with new eyes and new social and cultural viewpoints and… Continue reading The Change
The Red Prince Approaches
A town born from secret horror. A stranger with a hidden past. A doomed destiny that entwines two friends and binds them in blood. The road kill is coming. My new novel ROAD KILL will be released on April 6.
Making Our Mythologies
Humans are a species joined by our stories. Our histories, our myths, our legends, all of those things unite us in ways that images alone cannot. Stories are the connective tissue between us and the unifying light that marks the path of humanity both forward and back. As a writer I am always keen to… Continue reading Making Our Mythologies
Road Kill Is Coming
When I started writing Road Kill as a kid some thirty years ago I envisioned it as two friends, obsessed with killing animals and heading down a very dark dead end. It wasn’t going to end well and it didn’t.
Happened While I Wasn’t Looking
When I started writing as a kid it wasn’t for any other reason than because I had stories to tell. I didn’t see the stories as anything other than ways to be creative and to sorta share that creativity with the world. I dunno that anyone ever saw my stories outside of my mom and… Continue reading Happened While I Wasn’t Looking
Anniversaries
As 2019 dawns it brings with it two big anniversaries for me and two signposts in my writing. My first book Back From Nothing was released in 1999. I was a kid then, in more ways than one, and to have a book out was something I never imagined happening. I have gone into the story about… Continue reading Anniversaries
The Gore Score
I discovered horror movies as a little guy, having seen my first one at six and then falling in love with the genre on the for real-real until I had seen THE THING years later. When I fell for scary movies, as they will always sorta be to me, I fell hard and the older… Continue reading The Gore Score
Kissing – a Creepy Christmas Tale
Kissing When I was a little kid Christmas was the most important thing in my life. I loved everything about it. I loved the music, the lights, the church service, spending time with my family, spending time with my friends, like I said, I loved all of it. Christmas, with its mythology, and its mystery… Continue reading Kissing – a Creepy Christmas Tale
RoadKill – a novel
A million years ago, back when I was still a kid that had never even thought about writing more than occasionally and certainly never had thought about putting a book out, I wrote a story called Roadkill. In my mind it was a novella but in reality it was probably just a long short story.… Continue reading RoadKill – a novel
Winter Chill
I think the holidays dredge up memories for all of us. Most of mine are good. Despite my love of Halloween and all things dark and creepy I really love Christmas and this season. Something recently made me remember something though that is a bit of a darker memory. Call it the end of my… Continue reading Winter Chill
End Times
2018 will be a year that sticks with me for many reasons but the biggest is the loss of my mother, something we knew was coming but which, as they say, you are never prepared for when it happens. With mom it was a slow decline that we could only bear silent witness to. It… Continue reading End Times
Losing and Finding
It’s no secret that I am a devotee of the ‘found footage’ and POV subgenre of films. I think it’s fair to even call me a fanboy of sorts. There’s a power to that immediacy, to that manner of storytelling. I have talked about it before and having seen lots and lots and lots of… Continue reading Losing and Finding
The Only One Screaming Is You
I think it’s pretty obvious to say that American society is at a breaking point. People will argue that, saying that it’s Fake News and that things are fine and all that but these are also many of the people who are tuning out things that upset them or disrupt their vision of how the… Continue reading The Only One Screaming Is You
The Line – a story
Creepy story about one-sided infatuation of the nastiest kind. Fair warning if that’s a trigger for you. The Line It was her smile. That was what first drew me to her. That partial smile that seemed to say more than words could ever hope to. It was a moment. An instant. It was… Continue reading The Line – a story
Dusting Things Off
As I have found myself with time on my hands of late I have decided it really is time to get back to The Damned Novel, which, I think I honestly call any of the books that I have put out that were novel length. This particular one has been a pain in my biscuits… Continue reading Dusting Things Off
Disposable
There’s something about American culture that has embraced the disposability of things to the detriment of the body as a whole. Which is to say that we have gotten so used to the notion of being able to use something and then throw it out that that we have started to treat our relationships that… Continue reading Disposable
Halloween
Halloween has always been special to me. A night of dreams and horror coming together in a twilight dance for both young and old alike. It’s a night where we honor our pagan traditions and celebrate how those have evolved with us. There is a beauty to parents joining their children out in the neighborhoods,… Continue reading Halloween
Flint Fright FilmFest 2018
When we started things in 2011 with a horror convention I don’t think any of us would have imagined where we’d be in 2018. Most groups that work on conventions either make it or don’t, and let’s be honest, most don’t make it. I don’t know if it’s strictly financial as much as it is… Continue reading Flint Fright FilmFest 2018
The Difference A Week Makes
A week ago right now I was about to go to lunch at my job. I knew what was coming, that I was going to be fired, but I still had to go through the motions of the day. So that meant lunch. I had an inkling that I was going to be let go… Continue reading The Difference A Week Makes
Do-Over
Starting over is never easy, and rarely sought after but it’s a reality of the world. Starting over at forty-four was not what I was hoping to do at this point in my life. Not to say that I ever had some grand plan for things. I tend to build with the blocks from where… Continue reading Do-Over
Letting It Go
It’s a heck of a thing to be able to walk away from the last word. To close your mouth, push your tongue against the backs of your teeth, and to set your jaw firmly. Harder still when you feel, as most of us do from time to time, you have been wronged. I HAVE… Continue reading Letting It Go
A Punk Rock Rummage Sale
For me, I never started out wanting to do events. Not in any sort of way. Shoot, go back to my life before I moved to downtown Flint and I would never have thought once about putting an event together. No, for me it was work, the freedom of my own place, and writing. I… Continue reading A Punk Rock Rummage Sale
In Strolls The Boogeyman
I think that this is part of my yearly ritual on the lead up to Halloween. My yearly missive about haunts and haunted houses and the like. I suppose because it’s something I am passionate about and also something I feel knowledgeable enough to speak to. Anyone that loves Halloween knows about haunted houses, even… Continue reading In Strolls The Boogeyman
Embracing the Horror
This is one of those topics that I write about from time to time because it ceases to amaze me how utterly stupid and narrow people can be when it comes to the horror genre. I mean, let’s be straight honest here for a moment, there are biases against EVERY genre, people hate musicals, and… Continue reading Embracing the Horror
Who We Stand With And What We Stand For
Fandom is a strange sort of magic. Strangers united under the same umbrella, bound by a love of things that are not always as physical as they are ethereal. Bound by things that the mainstream once deemed as frivolous and wasteful but which found their way into the mainstream. Suddenly the mainstream embraced things they… Continue reading Who We Stand With And What We Stand For
I Am The Door – a short film
When I made The Last Halloween the plan had been one film and done. I would have scratched that particular itch and would feel good about it. One and done.
Marilyn and the Werewolf – a book
MARILYN AND THE WEREWOLF It was my mom that got me into horror movies and all things scary. Whether she knew it or not, her interest in the macabre and the dark drew me to it and set me on the path that lead me to where I am and who I am. My mom… Continue reading Marilyn and the Werewolf – a book
Our Lonely Gods
Since the beginning Mankind has looked to the great Other for guidance. It was a Creator, or a Punisher. Or an an all seeing Eye that We have always looked to something else/someone else for guidance. This is not a dig on religion at all, because the needle of faith, the heat of faith, can… Continue reading Our Lonely Gods
Good Grief
Grief is a different monster for every person. To some it is robed and silent, watching from a distance, for others it is hulking and ever-present, pushing in on every breath. Everyone experiences it and it’s lifequakes differently. There is not a right way to go through grief and until you get into self-harm and… Continue reading Good Grief
Another True Story
So we all have those stories that sorta make us US. The stories that we tell people to give them a feel for who you are and what you’re about. Some of us have a LOT of those stories and some of us have a few. The thing is that they are YOUR stories. They… Continue reading Another True Story
PRIDE
If there is one thing that has become desperately American of late it is a deep sense of pride. Pride in our nation, in our accompliishments, and in our very act of existence. We are brag about our history. We boast about our ingenuity. We rave about our culture. We rant about the rest of… Continue reading PRIDE
The Truth
So this here is a true story, with, obviously, the name of the person I am going to refer to removed. I don’t write this thinking it will change someone, or change how they see the world, or change their mind on what they believe. I write these blogs, as I have said, as my… Continue reading The Truth
Episode 1 – An Introduction
Episode 2 – The Death of Physical Media
Episode 3 – Over It
Episode 4 – A Short Story
Episode 5 – Follow Your Passion
Episode 6 – Hope
Episode 7 – Read It Out
Episode 8 – Show Man
Episode 9 – Makin’ Movies
Episode 10 – Shudder
Episode 11 – The Friday the 13th Franchise
Episode 12 – The Nightmare on Elm Street Franchise
Episode 13 – The Struggle
Episode 14 – Stoker Con 2019
Episode 15 – Stoker Con 2019 – Days One and Two
Episode 16 – Stoker Con 2019 – Wrap-Up
Episode 17 – Familiar Ghosts
Episode 18 – Something In The Water – Story Reading
Episode 19 – Ball – Story Reading
Episode 20 – Future Flint
Episode 21 – The New Books
Episode 22 – Obscurity
Episode 23 – The Pitch
Episode 24 – The Art of The Scare
Episode 25 – ROAD KILL
Episode 26 – Just Write
Episode 27 – Halloween
Episode 28 – The Con Game
Episode 29 – Cemetery Earth
https://spookychris.com/2019/11/29/the-spooky-chris-podcast-ep-29-cemetery-earth/
