Interview with Internationally Known Indie Author Jan Miklaszewicz!

Hello faithful readers! Today we have a special treat for you! Internatianally known indie author Jan Miklaszewicz has so graciously agreed to answer some of your questions! You may know Jan Miklaszewicz from his poetry or his short-story collections, which are available on Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B094H49GVZ

Jan gave some very thoughtful answers to our sometimes weird and random questions, and I hope you'll check out his answers here and then check out his books and give them a read!

What inspired you to write your short stories?

Years ago I wanted to write novels and heard that short stories were a good way to practise. Turns out I really enjoyed writing them. The book ‘Exterminator’ by William Burroughs was a good inspiration, too, as it has some really odd stories written in quite a simple style.

Do you think Queer people are going to hell?

I don’t know if queer people are going to hell or not, but I certainly hope they won’t.

(For what it’s worth, I don’t think we really understand what hell even is.)

As for hell, I'm a Christian, so it's not a wild idea to me. I am, however, not an evangelical Christian with all the big opinions that brings. Foremost a believer in Christ and the resurrection. The rest, I'm still working out.

Do you have any regrets? If so, what and why?

I don't have any regrets as I'm in a good place and wouldn't be here without all those wrong turns I took.

Why did you decide to go to the lighter side and be less dark after Forty Four and Istangrade?

A reviewer noted that 'Forty Four' was a bit devoid of hope, which really made me think. And looking then at 'Istangrade', I decided I was getting myself in a rut. We can choose to some extent what we focus on, so I made a point in 'Mutton Dressed as Poetry' of looking at the brighter side a little more.

How do you really feel about the aging process?

I don't worry too much about ageing, although it is a bit rough physically (knees, finger joints, eyesight). The pay-off, being a bit more world wise, is more than worth it.

What do you feel for the 3 legged gecko as it is dismantled?

As for the poor old gecko, it's such a common sight that I'm desensitised to it now. Cats have that seemingly cruel side to them, that's for sure.

What's your favorite horror movie?

Horror movie: Ju-On (the original Grudge) - amazing build up of tension.

Have Horror movies influenced you in any way in your life or your writing?

I don't really think horror movies have influenced my writing, because I seldom watch them (although I did read some horror in my teens - most of the James Herbert novels).

Most of my inspiration just comes from asking 'what if?' or observing the way the world actually works from my own perspective.

As a Christian, do you think horror movies are evil?

I don't think horror movies are evil per se, but I do think being obsessed with them (or anything, for that matter) is unhealthy.

Some of the stories in "In The Hole" seem to have been influenced by horror, or maybe that's just me reading into them, lol. But what inspired you to write these stories?

Back to inspiration for 'In the Hole', one of the stories is definitely horror inspired. That's 'Headman', which is my way of complaining that horror movies don't do enough to explain where the evil comes from. It's so arbitrary. That's why I have the character randomly become possessed without explaining it.

What keeps you going when you want to quit?

Experience stops me from quitting. I've managed to overcome (or get around) most problems in my life, so why should the next problem be any different?

What's your favorite movie of any genre?

My favourite movie? Also too hard to say, though 'Five Easy Pieces' and 'At Eternity's Gate' are definitely up there.

What's your favorite book?

My favourite book? Too hard to say, but one that I have read several times is 'Darkmans' by Nicola Barker. Dark and funny.

Interview with Internationally Known Author James McDonald

James McDonald has written the book, "What's the Worst that Can Happen?" And he so graciously agreed to answer your questions in the interview below! This is fascinating stuff, tolks! I hope you enjoy this interview and then stop by Amazon and buy his book!

https://a.co/d/3ihy0C2

Hello there! My blog readers are excited to hear from you! Horror movies helped me survive my childhood trauma (and still help me cope today!) Do you have a favorite horror movie? What was the biggest thing that helped you survive your childhood trauma? If you could go back and change your past, would you? Why or why not?

Thank you Eileen. I’m looking forward to answering these interesting questions. Indeed, they have got me thinking about a lot that has happened to me in life and in a good way.

I find it interesting that you turned to horror movies to help you to deal with trauma. I was the opposite – I was a very frightened child even though those in the other side of life, spirit, were very active around me. I, of course, didn’t realise that they were spirits or ghosts, as some people refer to them, back then.

My favourite horror movie was The Exorcist (1973) which I found very frightening due to, in my opinion, it being the first horror movie that I watched which I found scarier than what we had been used to previous to then. It also got me to thinking about the other side of life.

I survived my childhood by using fantasy. The upside was that it helped me through it and the downside was that I carried on into my adulthood with these habits. As a 4-year-old I would play with small teaspoons that my mother was given as a gift, probably for her wedding. Simple spoons but at the handle end they were shaped into characters that I imagined were soldiers and that one day those soldiers were going to come and rescue me. Having seen similar spoons today I now realise that they weren’t soldiers but probably St. Christophers. The issues that I brought with me into my early adulthood were what I had devised as a youngster when something traumatic happened to me. I would pretend that nothing had happened and get on with my life. The abuse came from my father and I became aware very quickly that my mother was unable to help me even although she tried her best.

What would I change from my past? That’s a question that I have thought of many times in my life. I would change nothing because I am now at a peaceful stage in my life where I have accepted what happened to me and everything has taught me something that I have been able to move forward with in life. I am retired from working now but during the latter part of my career I was working with children and was able to pass on my knowledge and experience to help others. I was able to help many people through the mental health issues brought about by covid and the subsequent lockdowns and have carried on with that work today. Had I not gone through what I did as a child I wouldn’t have written my book or gone on to become a professional counsellor especially with children.

What's your favorite movie?

My favourite movie of all time is The Life Of Brian (1979) by the Monty Python team. I have lost count of the amount of times I have watched this but I still laugh! I even laugh in anticipation of what I know is coming next. Why is this my favourite? Laughter! I love laughing.

How did you go about publishing your book?

This was a very difficult process for me and for several reasons. It was great to be writing as I was enjoying doing so but low self-esteem kicked in when I was advised (by spirit) to start sending it out to potential publishers. What if they didn’t like it? Crazy, I know, but true. I hadn’t thought about others reading my book. But it was simply another lesson to be learned. I sent it out to over eighty publishers and literary agents and of the feedback I received, most of it was positive. Back then most of the submissions were in hard copy as submission by email was in its infancy. I was changing career back then from engineering to counselling and as I began my studies at college and university I gradually shelved the book idea to learn and qualify as a counsellor. I studied psychology along with counselling and it was awesome. At the beginning of lockdown I was encouraged by spirit to submit my work again by bringing what I had written up to date. After a few weeks I was advised, again by spirit, to stop sending out submissions. I received two offers with another couple of places interested in my work. So from the initial idea to publication actually took fifteen years! I had, however, spent many of those years learning and practising counselling along with play and art therapy to work with children.

What's your favorite book?

This is actually a very difficult question for me as I have enjoyed so many books from diverse authors and especially those from Indie authors. There is truly some great talent out there. As a child when I learned how to read I would go to my local library and my favourite author then was Enid Blyton especially The famous Five and Secret Seven series of books. Looking back, I think that these books fitted in with my “fantasy” life. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle has had a great effect on me but I loved Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell as well as Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.

If you could have a movie made out of your life story, who should play you and why?

I don’t know of many child actors today who could play childhood me but certainly one with a great imagination! I admire Dustin Hoffman who is multi-talented and I’m sure he could adapt to the many different roles that I have “played” during my life. I could never settle down but tried so many different things during my life. In reality, I was searching for something but that something eluded me until the day I realised that it was actually within me. I was searching for peace and contentment and didn’t realise it. Definitely Hoffman for me.

Michelle wants to know what motivates you to write? What do you think about when you're writing?

Thank you Michelle. When I wrote “What’s The Worst That Can Happen?” it wasn’t my idea! During my forties when spirit came through to me one of the first seeds that they planted in my head was that one day I was going to write a book. That was an exciting time in my life as you might imagine and so there was a lot going on for me. Every now and again I would be reminded by spirit that the book idea was a good thing. When it came to putting pen to paper, that’s what I did in the early days, I was surprised what came to me and it all came naturally. After writing about three chapters I became aware that the spirit who was guiding me was my former English teacher from High School. That was all good motivation.

I no longer use pen and paper and can type straight onto my laptop or even my phone. For a while I was writing blogs which I enjoyed doing but haven’t been writing for a while. I’m currently promoting my book and, if there is a demand, I have a few ideas that I’d like to write about as a follow up.

When writing I try and think about the facts and stick to them but I often wander off in my head and write about things I never thought about. I have got into the habit though of keeping everything that I have written. If I think anything is irrelevant then I can edit it out at the end. Many of the ideas that I get come to me when I’m not writing. I keep a notebook with me and beside my bed to jot down ideas.

What gives you motivation to write new books? What has helped you overcome trauma? How do you stay focused while writing?

My motivation comes from my life experiences and how I can share those experiences with other people. Indeed, many people give me ideas as they speak with me and I often feel that there might be something that I can write about that might help many people. A police officer who works with adult survivors of child abuse uses my book to help other victims to have the strength and courage to come forward and testify against their abusers. That is very motivational to me.

Staying focussed isn’t always easy! I find that going for walks helps if I’m trying too hard and not getting anywhere. Once I start writing then everything seems to fall into place for me and I am fortunate enough to be able to sit for long periods of time. If I have a particular project to work on then that often helps me to remain focussed.

Overcoming trauma has been, and will be, a lifelong task for me. I am very fortunate though because I am able to pick up guidance from the other side of life. These are our lives and spirit can only help us with so much but I am grateful for the know-how I have been given. For me the issues arising from my experiences of an abusive childhood are still there within me. I have learned many techniques that I have practiced and used throughout my life with the results being that today I can deal with those issues better than I did a year ago and a year from now I will be able to deal with them much better than I can today. That’s how I evolve. I began by reading books about self-help for mental health issues and learned about myself during that journey. Some methods I would find excellent while others were not for me. As time went by I was able to adapt different methods to suit myself with some success. Today there are many different self-help techniques available to us all due to communication via the internet. What I have discovered through time is that when I deal with an issue another one appears! I compare life to school in that when we learn something then we step up a level to learn more about ourselves. I’ve always been aware that we don’t simply tick the boxes and move on; life isn’t like that. We learn and then we learn some more. I don’t see a future where I will stop learning especially about myself but it’s a challenge that I have become strong enough to take on.

Charles wants to know more about your spirit guides and how they've helped you throughout your life!

Thank you Charles. That’s actually a question that could lead to another book!

When spirit came through to me during my forties it was amazing to say the least. They then set about proving that they were always with me by showing me events from my childhood. Initially the only spirits that I saw were those who I was related to but had passed away. This was to assure me that I was safe because one of the main issues I had in life was fear. Today I see every spirit who comes through to me as a spirit guide who is guiding me or someone with me in some way.

My life changed when spirit came through to me. I began to see life in different ways. Money became less prevalent in my life but once I had learned that particular lesson I now always seem to have enough money. The big problem that I had was learning to believe in myself. Due to my childhood I had grown up with low self-esteem and would question myself; who am I to have such an amazing gift? I learned though. I had two paths in life to be taken through; learning how to use these amazing gifts that I had but also having to remember, what turned out to be, a very abusive childhood and, of course, the baggage that came with it. Spirit walked me through those experiences.

As for our own spirit guides, I believe that I have two who are with me. Their names? I have no idea! Spirit taught me how to sense and read energies and I can now detect most spirits as an energy as opposed to a name. of course I am often given names from spirits who come through to me in order to pass that information over to whoever might be with me.

Watch This Space!

We have interesting things coming!

Christmas Disturbing Horror Giveaway!

Comment on this post with your favorite disturbing horror movie and I'll pick 1 winner to win a disturbing horror Christmas package! Here's mine:

This is one of my favorites. I bought it in college because I heard it was one of the most disturbing movies ever made, and I wanted to watch it. I didn't expect it to have any actual cinematic value. But I was surprised by Camille Keaton's performance in that it's actually very good and harrowing. The rape scene is indeed disturbing, and there's one scene with a phone call that never fails to make me jump and give me chills even after all these years. Someone once asked me why I would want to watch a movie that graphically and brutally depicts rape, and my response was that rape is both graphic and brutal, so if a movie is going to show those things, I want it to be realistic and true to life. "Descent" (not "The Descent" with the cave monsters which while it is a great movie is not about rape) is another one that depicts both male and female rape and is so disturbing in the end that it almost did me in. Brutal stuff, but cinematically honest.

October Horror Challenge 2023 #101: "Us (2019)"

One year not all that long ago, I was talking with a friend about horror movies, and we got onto the subject of the movie "Tales from the Hood." He said he liked it, but he thought it was racist against white people. I asked him why and he said it was because all the white people in the movie are racist. Now, it's not really true, although most of the people in that movie are despicable people because that's the point of the movie (bad people get what'scoming to them, like in Tales from the Crypt, but with actual black people in it) and i tried to explain this to him, and i told him that besides that point, he shouldn't take the only horror movie that either of us could name that had predominantly black people in it and say it's racist against white people. It's not a good look, bro. As someone who watches a LOT of horror movies, I've always lamented that most of them show a sea of white faces and almost never any black people, because it's annoying. There are black people in the world, so there should be black people in movies. I always tell people it's because black people are too smart to stay in the haunted house or get killed by the slasher (the movie "The Skeleton Key" makes a similar observation) but one thing I've started to appreciate about more recent horrormovies is that they have a more diverse cast of characters and not everyone is lily white anymore. Jordan Peele in particular has made some pretty bomb-ass movies that feature predominantly black characters, abd i must talk about this a lot, because when i bought this movie my friend the cashier told me i would like it because "it has a lot of black people in it." I'm hoping that i DO like it. Ive been looking forward to finally watching it for awhile now.

This movie is about a family who moves back to the same beachfront town where the wife, Adelaide, used to live when she was a little girl. Adelaide had a terrifying experience there when she was younger, and now she's nervous that something terrible is going to happen again. Her husband thinks she's overreacting at first, but soon he begins to realize that something strange is indeed going on when a strange family shows up in their driveway one night and refuses to leave. The masked family are giving serious "The Strangers" vibes, and they literally break into the house and force the family to defend themselves against these strange intruders. The masked people are scary enough on their own, but it's when the masks come off that things start to really get terrifying. Now the family is fighting for more than their lives, they're fighting for their very souls.

If i had an experience like the one Adelaide has in the opening sequence of this movie, there's no way in hell that i would ever go back to that place. Why do people in horrormovies always do stuff like this? At least she's afraid that something bad will happen, she's not totally oblivious like most horror movie moms are for way too long in movies like this. I don't want to give away too much of the plot like every other synopsis of this movie seems to do, but the part I don't want to spoil comes about 20 or 30 minutes into the movie, so it's not the end or anything, and I already knew it was going to happen before I even read the synopsis that spoiled the surprise, because someone told me what was going to happen. I guess they didn't think they were ruining anything because like Isaid, you do find out pretty early in the movie, but I'm still not going to tell you what happens. You'll have to dodge every other description of this movie if you want to keep it a surprise, though.

I'm glad I decided to watch this movie instead of going to bed like i almost did. Originally i was going to watch this movie and three others for my last four movies of the challenge, but this morning "A Haunting in Venice" showed up on Hulu and i just HAD TO watch that one instead of this one, but that one ended up being disappointing for me because it was more about Hercule Poirot's ego than anything else. I needed one more good scary movie this challenge, and this one is it. Lupito Nyong'o is great in this movie. She makes me care about her character even while she's simultaneously scaring the crap out of me. And the use of music is great in this movie too. I'll never be able to look at The Beach Boys the same way again. Or hear "Fuck the Police" without thinking of this movie. That's something "The Strangers" did, too. I'll always think of that movie when I hear the song "Mama Tried" by Merle Haggard, and I'll always think of "The Strangers 2" when i hear Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler. Good horror movies do that, they make you remember them.

And then just when I was saying I liked the husband, and he figured out that things were going wrong pretty quickly and did something about it, he had to go and be stupid like typical horror movie people always do. But it led to my favorite lines of the movie; "What are micro machines?" "What's Home Alone?" Trust me, when you see the movie, you'll get what I mean. The kids in this movie are great too. They don't waste time like kids in horror movies tend to do, dragging everybody down, they figure out what's going on and come up with some pretty creative ways to fight back. Until they mess up and put everyone back in danger again, but I can't really blame them for that, since this isn't a typical situation they find themselves in and I wouldn't know how to react either. Overall, everyone in the family is pretty likeable, which is a big switch from the majority of movies I've watched today where no one was likeable. Kudos to this movie for getting me to care about the characters and sustaining that through some pretty weird stuff. The movie does falter a bit near the end when it gets just a little too weird and over-explainy, but that's a small quibble when the rest of the movie us so good. Definitely check this one out. It's well worth the watch.

October Horror Challenge 2023 #100: "To Become One (2002)"

I've wanted to see this movie since before it came out. The director did a feature in Fangoria (a horror movie magazine) about guerrilla filmmaking on a shoestring budget with little to no money, and he used his film "To Become One" as an example. He said it was made for like, two thousand dollars, and everyone who saw it couldn'tbelieve it cost less than two million. His story made me want to go out and make a horror movie like whoa (I've had an idea for a horror movie for years, and I always wondered what it would be like to make a horror movie. The director of this movie, Neil Johnson, made it sound, not easy exactly, but doable, and that was a big inspiration for me. I still haven't made my movie, but filmmakers like him, who are willing to share their secrets, are a big help to indie filmmakers who dream of following in their footsteps. Plus the movie just sounded cool. It was a slasher, abd everyone knows how much I love slashers, and the still shots from the movie had creative kills that i really wanted to see. Unfortunately, this movie is notoriously hard to track down. I ended up borrowing the movie from my friend Maddie, who was kind enough to lend me the movie so I could watch it this Halloween and finally see what all the fuss is about. Here we go!

The plot of this movie sounds pretty simple. A year after her mother's death, a young woman and her friends become the victims of a maniacal killer who wears a gas mask. They get slashed in some pretty gnarly ways, and the trailer for the movie is mostly shots of the cast getting offed in increasingly gruesome ways. My kinda trailer! I wish i could link the trailer for you here, but if you go to Youtube and search for "to become one" you can probably watch it. I'll warn you, you might become obsessed like I did with seeing this movie, but then I like low budget slashers. Anyway, the young woman in this movie is forced to face some harsh truths about herself and her life and her family. I hate it when that happens. My family is certainly not perfect, but compared to the family in this movie I think they seem pretty normal, so kudos to this movie for portraying an even more screwed up family than any I've ever seen.

I won spoil this movie for you, like someone did for me. Someone on a message board once said "oh, that's the movie about the girl who..." and then they just dropped a plot twist that you're not supposed to find out until at least halfway through the movie. When I finally got to see the movie myself, i saw how the twist fit in with the rest of the movie, and i also discovered that the twist comes halfway through the movie and not at the end. I like how the movie basically spits on religious fanatics for an hour and a half. I love me a good movie that mocks religious nuts. I do have some complaints about this movie, though. None of the characters are very likeable, so there's really no one to root for. I suppose I wanted the main character to survive, but that's only because I hated the religious fanatic doctor so much that anybody would be better than him. The scenes with the patients in the hospital writhing and screaming with religious fervor are genuinely chilling, but that's mainly because I spent a lot of time in creepy pentecostal churches when I was younger. I still remember those days well and this movie rings truer because of that.For such a short movie, it shouldn't have seemed as long as it did. It's only an hour and thirty minutes, but it seemed much longer to me. Im still glad I finally got to see it, though.

October Horror Challenge 2023 #99: "Bathtub Shark Attack"

I've been impatiently waiting for this movie for years now. I had to wait for it to be shot, then edited, then go through post-production, then finally i got a copy of the DVD from my friend Maddie Deering, the director, in exchange for a review. Im stoked to finally be watching this movie today, and on Halloween too! It's perfect! This is supposed to be the gorriest shark movie of all time, or at least that was the goal upon making the movie, and that movie poster looks pretty gory to me. Now I know what you're probably thinking, "Bathtub shark attack? WTF?" And even before watching it, I can assure you that this movie wont be for everyone. If the title and the low-budgety look of the special effects make you look at me like I'm crazy for being excited to watch this movie, then the movie probably isn't for you. This is one of THOSE movies, like "Spirit Animal" or "Colonel Kill Motherfuckers," low budget shot on video for the fun and joy of making horror movies, these movies will either be a blast for you from start to finish, or you'll think I'm nuts for loving them. There's really no in-between here. I for one am excited to watch this movie and i can't wait to check it out.

A young couple, named Chad and Cindy, are down on their luck and looking for a place to live that's in their budget, which isn't much. One night, in a drunken stupor, Chad finds a flyer for an apartment that only costs $100 a week. It seems to be too good to be true, but they decide to go and check the place out anyway. As we savvy viewers have learned, a place that seems to be too good to be true usually is and will likely cost you your soul. Haven't these people ever seen a horror movie before? In the cold (and sober) light of day, Chad has doubts about whether he wants to take the apartment, but Cindy is tired of couch surfing among their friends and she insists that they rent the apartment, much to the delight of their new landlady Serena, who is excited about having some fresh new blood in the place. Soon they begin to regret their decision, however, when strange things start happening. Cindy seems to be obsessed with the bathtub in their new apartment (and we the viewers have already seen someone get attacked by a shark in the bathtub in the opening scene of the movie, so we know that it's dangerous). What will happen to Chad and Cindy? Will they be able to figure out the evil plot before it destroys them? Or will they fall victim to the shark creature that apparently lives in their pipes?

The plot of this movie makes me think of another movie called "The Sentinel" which is about a woman who moves into an apartment that seems too good to be true, and it turns out to be a portal to hell. Whoops. I think there are some people who would look at me crossways for saying this movie even has a plot, since it's ultra low-budget and mostly made as an homage to other horror movies. People made fun of me for saying "Spirit Animal" had a plot too, but it does. In this movie, the plot is mostly about being too poor to afford a good place to stay in this housing market, and how that affects people's decision making skills. i mean, do you think Chad and Cindy would have chosen to live in that creepy apartment if they could afford a better place? I remember not being able to afford an apartment and being homeless. It's more common than people think. Life is terrifying being poor, and that's what this movie is about, as much as it's about an evil shark creature that lives in the pipes and attacks people. One of my favorite quotes from the movie is:

Being pissed on makes me pissed off!

I had a blast with this movie, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to watch a fun little horror flick that doesn't take itself too seriously.