Ghost Stories for Christmas 2023

A few years ago, I became fascinated with the tradition of telling ghost stories during the darkest time of the year. What started out as an oral tradition became a popular trend in Victorian England with the development of printing presses. 

I devoured the ghost stories of M. R. James, which he wrote and read to his friends every year at Christmas. Then I watched the BBC’s A Ghost Story for Christmas anthology series, many of which adapted James’ stories. I really enjoyed the stories and their adaptations. Last year I read Christmas Gothic Short Stories from Flame Tree Press. It’s a collection of classic and new tales. I loved it as well. This year I’m jumping between a few different collections. 

First up is The Turn of the Screw and Other Ghost Stories by Henry James from Penguin Classics. I’m a big fan of Mike Flanagon’s films and mini-series, especially Midnight Mass and The Haunting of Hill House. I decided to finally read Henry James because Flanagan's The Haunting of Bly Manor is based on some stories by James. Not all the stories he adapts are in this collection, so I’ll also be reading a collection I have on Kindle that has everything. 

Next is The Haunted Looking Glass - Ghost Stories Chosen by Edward Gorey from New York Review of Books. This includes stories by Charles Dickens, Algernon Blackwood, Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker and more. Each story includes an illustration by Gorey. My favorite so far is “The Signalman” by Dickens. 

Finally, I have The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton from Wordsworth Editions. I chose this edition over Ghost Stories from New York Review of Books as the Wordsworth edition has four more stories. This is my first time reading anything by Edith Wharton. The prose is beautiful and the themes are deep. I’m four stories in and now I want to read everything she’s ever written.

I hope to finish all three books by the end of the month, but we’ll see. 

My Writing Process

 “A good story cannot be devised; it has to be distilled.” — Raymond Chandler 

I participated in National Novel Writing Month again this year, so I’ve been thinking about my current writing process and how I came about it after studying how other authors write.

Outlining

Some authors are “planners” and like to outline and plot everything out in advance, while some authors are “pantsers” or "discovery writers” and just see where the story takes them as they put the words down. Crime writer Jeffrey Deaver is a planner. 

“For every book and story I write, I spend over half the time outlining — before I write a single word of prose.” 

“I advocate outlining for a number of reasons. Among them: It helps you achieve the necessary story structure if you write, as I do, fast paced, plot driven fiction. Outlining first is also a far more efficient way to write. By wrestling the plot into shape using Post-It notes, or bullet points on your computer, you will see what works and what doesn’t, before diving into the prose. You won’t need to go back and revise dozens, perhaps hundreds, of pages when you come up with a new plot idea later in your work.” — from "Jeffrey Deaver: On the Benefits of Outlining," Writer’s Digest 

Discovery Writing

Recently retired thriller writer Lee Child of Jack Reacher fame has the opposite take. When asked if he dedicated a lot of time to planning his plot before writing, he had this so say:

“No, I never plan anything. I want the same excitement I would get as a reader. I don’t want to know what happens. If I plotted it all out and planned it, I would have told myself the whole story already and be ready to move on. There would be much less excitement for me in the writing process and the plot would come out as flat and wooden to the reader.” — Lee Child from "Q&A With Top Thriller Writer Lee Child" on NewWriting.net. 

I think of Ray Bradbury as the ultimate discovery writer.

“...in my early twenties I floundered into a word-association process in which I simply got out of bed each morning, walked to my desk, and put down any word or series of words that happened along in my head. I would then take arms against the word, or for it, and bring on an assortment of characters to weigh the word and show me its meaning in my own life. An hour or two hours later, to my amazement, a new story would be finished and done. The surprise was total and lovely. I soon found that I would have to work this way for the rest of my life.” — Ray Bradbury from Zen in the Art of Writing (1990)

Visualizing Away from the Keyboard

For the story I worked on this month I did some prep before I started writing. I made a list of characters and their motivations, made worldbuilding notes, and wrote down the scene ideas I had. The scene ideas became a loose outline. As I started writing the story I thought of new scenes and added them to the list. This allowed me to stay on track while at the same time stay motivated. The outline was loose enough to where I was discovering new plot points and things about my characters as I was writing. 

But there was something else I was also doing: For some scenes and characters I spent a lot of time thinking of what was going to happen before actually writing anything down. It turns out that this is exactly how author J. Michael Straczynski of Babylon 5 fame works. He recently explained his process on Twitter. 

“To swing back around to my process...I can't think of much that's worse than staring at a screen trying to figure out what to write next. Total performance anxiety. And then once you *do* write the scene, it's kind of concretized in that moment, and there's the inertial tendency to leave it as is rather than just rewrite a wounded scene end-to-end.  

So what I do is to visualize the scene *away* from the keyboard, down to the smallest detail, end to end, over and over until it's solid. There isn't the intimidation factor of the waiting screen, or the sense that I have to stay with what I wrote just because I already wrote it.  

While it's just in my head, it's infinitely malleable, I can turn it upside down, inside out, reverse the structure, it's like a kid playing with letter-blocks. I will do this five, ten, twenty times, however many is required until it finally feels real and authentic.  

It's only then, when I can see and put to memory every single line in my head that I finally go to the keyboard and at that point I'm not actually writing, I'm just typing what I've already seen happen. This minimizes stress, maximizes play, and then I can write as fast as I can type.” — J. Michael Staczynski on Twitter (now rebranded as X), November 3, 2023

I got excited when I read this and thought, "Hey! I’ve been doing some of that!” 

My Frankenstein Process

All the authors make good points. When I first tried writing stories, I didn’t plan anything out. But while it was fun, I usually got lost the further I got into a story. So, I started outlining. It kept me from getting lost and overwhelmed, but after finishing a detailed outline I lost the motivation to keep writing the story, just as Lee Child describes above.

Now I plan a little on paper, but not too much. I also spend time thinking over things quite a lot before I begin writing certain scenes. I think of myself as a “plantser," somewhere in between a planner and a pantser. Through trial and error, I've cobbled together a process that works for me so far, and it all reminds me of the Raymond Chandler quote above.

The RKO Films of Val Lewton

 “We tossed away the horror formula right from the beginning.” — Val Lewton 

When RKO hired writer and producer Val Lewton to head up their horror unit, he was given three rules:

• Keep each film’s budget under $150,000.

• Keep each film’s run time under 75 minutes.

• Make each film based on a title given to him by RKO.

Lewton made eleven films with RKO, nine of them horror/thriller films. He worked closely with directors Jacques Tourneur, Robert Wise, and Mark Robson to create horror films where the menace is often unseen and lurking in the shadows. He also worked with Boris Karloff in three films giving him roles where he could shine. I recently watched them and while I enjoyed some more than others, I enjoyed them all quite a bit. 

In his book Danse Macabre, Stephen King says he thinks they don’t hold up because it’s obvious they were all filmed on sets. A lot of people probably feel the same way today but not me. The combination of story, direction, and acting, drew me in each time. They’re not typical horror films. They each feature complicated characters in complicated relationships and Lewton slips in a variety of themes such as loneliness, alienation, abuse of authority, and science vs. superstition. 

Here are the nine films and my thoughts on them. 

Cat People (1942)

Directed by Jacques Tourneur 

A young man falls in love with a woman who turns out to be obsessed with the idea that she is descended from a group of people who transform into black panthers when aroused. I remember really liking this when I first watched it years and years ago, but I forgot how good it was. Mysterious, moving, and beautifully shot. Themes of alienation, repressed desire, and fears of intimacy. It’s amazing what this film accomplishes with its limited budget and short run time.

I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

Directed by Jacques Tourneur 

Val Newton was given the title I Walked with a Zombie and made a moody, gothic love story with noir lighting that touches upon colonialism and slavery. A haunting story with haunting visuals. 

The Leopard Man (1943)

Directed by Jacques Tourneur 

After a leopard escapes from a nightclub in a small town in New Mexico, things go from bad to worse. There’s one scene that keeps upping the suspense until it just explodes. It’s so devastating. A plot point towards the middle is a little silly but then we get back to the tension and suspense. Excellent use of sounds and shadows. 

Based on the book Black Alabi by Cornell Woolrich.

The Seventh Victim (1943)

Directed by Mark Robson 

A woman searching for her missing sister discovers a cult of satan worshippers in Greenwich Village, New York. There’s a creepy scene that brought Psycho to mind and the scenes with the cult members have real Rosemary’s Baby vibes.

More of a nihilistic noir than horror, possibly one of the bleakest films I’ve ever seen. It has its moments, but it was a bit convoluted. I felt like something was missing. Sure enough I learned that four key scenes were cut from the film after it was changed from an A picture that allowed for a longer run time to a B picture. I appreciate what it was trying to do but things didn’t quite come together. 

The Ghost Ship (1943)

Directed by Mark Robson

A young officer on his first voyage begins to suspect that his captain has an unhealthy obsession with authority and is mentally unbalanced. Making good use of shadows and the claustrophobic locations of a ship, this is a psychological thriller that slowly builds tension leading to a violent climax. A sign briefly seen in the captain’s cabin early on turns out to be well placed foreshadowing. 

Who does not heed the rudder

Shall meet the rock

Some reviews complain about the lack of ghosts. Again, given the title Ghost Ship, Lewton does something unexpected and creative with it. Besides, the ghosts are right there in the dialogue.

“You’re just like the captain, Tom. Lonely, austere, bitter, without family or friends. Condemning yourself to a bloodless ghost-like existence. And in the end, it’ll be only a ghost ship you’ll command.”

The Curse of the Cat People (1943)

Directed by Gunther von Fritsch and Robert Wise 

This is a very unusual sequel that follows two characters from Cat People who are now married with a daughter named Amy. I wasn’t sure what to make of this at first but Amy with her active imagination and her difficulties with trying to make friends drew me in. There’s a scene that really spoke to me as it brought back a sad memory, where Amy feels helpless because an adult doesn’t believe her.

Once I realized that this was a dark fairy tale about childhood, loneliness, and imagination, I was all in. I believe that one of the strengths of this movie is that Lewton incorporated autobiographical details from his younger days. Not what I was expecting from the sequel to Cat People, but I loved it. I really admire Val Lewton for doing his own thing after the studio demanded a sequel.

The Body Snatcher (1945)

Directed by Robert Wise 

An entertaining adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson short story. I read the story before watching and while I thought it was okay, I think the film improves upon it. The elements added to fill out the story may be a little corny, but I thought they worked rather well. It was great seeing Boris Karloff working with Bela Lugosi, despite Lugosi having a minor role. Excellent performance from Karloff. 

Isle of the Dead (1945)

Directed by Mark Robson 

A psychological thriller about a group quarantined on an island graveyard after someone falls ill. Is it the plague? Or a vorvolaka, an undead creature from Greek folklore? It covers a lot of ground for such a short feature: war, disease, burial, and science vs. superstition. Another great performance from Boris Karloff. The beginning has a leisurely pace, but it all leads up to a gripping finale. 

Based on the painting by Arnold Bocklin titled Isle of the Dead. 

Bedlam (1946)

Directed by Mark Robson

In 1761 London a young woman named Nell has a falling out with her benefactor Lord Mortimer. Afterwards he conspires to have her committed to an asylum. Boris Karloff gives a suitably creepy performance as the asylum overseer. As with most Val Lewton films, it covers a lot of ground. Besides the mistreatment of those in the asylum, it speaks on class, politics, hypocrisy, and tyrants.

“You have no idea, Nell, what a great responsibility it is to be rich.”

Based on a series of paintings by William Hogarth titled A Rake’s Progress.

In Conclusion

Unfortunately, Val Lewton's career was cut short. He passed away in 1951 at the age of 46 after having two heart attacks. But he left us with some films that while low budget tried something creative and different each time. In my opinion he succeeded. I highly recommend them.

Writing Update

I received word that a short story of mine has been accepted for publication. My first one! The story will appear in issue 8 of Whetstone. The issue will be published digitally on Friday, December 15th, 2023. 

Here’s a link to the magazine’s website:

Whetstone: Amateur Magazine of Pulp Sword and Sorcery (whetstonemag.blogspot.com)

Whetstone is an amateur magazine, but they publish great fiction and poetry and there's a lot of competition. This is a really big step for me. I have to say, it’s a good feeling.

Books I Read and Films I Watched in September 2023

Only two books this month, probably because I watched so many movies. 

Lord of a Shattered Land by Howard Andrew Jones (Baen Books, 2023) 

An excellent book that reminded me of old school historical adventures mixed with sword and sorcery. My full review from last month: We Learn by Writing: Lord of a Shattered Land by Howard Andrew Jones

Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino (Harper Collins, 2022) 

Reading this felt a little like having director Quentin Tarantino in my living room rambling on about films. If that sounds cool, you’ll probably like this book. If not, you’ve been warned. I loved it. While quite a lot of movies are discussed, he focuses on the ones he grew up watching in the 1970s. Of the sixteen chapters in the book, thirteen of them are devoted to specific films. He also discusses a number of other films within those chapters though. Throughout the book he mixes autobiographical anecdotes with background information and film criticism. 

Rewatching or watching some of the movies for the first time, and then reading the corresponding chapters added to my enjoyment of the book. I think it also helped that I like most of the films he discusses, especially Bullitt with Steve McQueen and Rolling Thunder with William Devane, Tommy Lee Jones, and Linda Haynes. Tarantino loves movies, has strong opinions, and tends to ramble, but he does it all with passion. This was a fun read. 

Here are the movies he devotes chapters to:

Bullitt (1968)

I watched this years ago and loved it. It’s convoluted but Steve McQueen does a good job portraying a calm and cool police detective. The car chase scene through San Francisco is amazing, both crazy and suspenseful. 

Dirty Harry (1971) 

Directed by Don Siegal and starring Clint Eastwood. I rewatched this one after first watching it years and years ago. Great cast, action scenes, and some great lines, but the second half didn’t hold up for me. It just gets too over the top towards the end. 

Deliverance (1972) 

I read the book and then watched this before reading the chapter in Cinema Speculation.  Excellent book and excellent film adaptation, but very dark. 

The Getaway (1972) 

Based on the novel by Jim Thompson. I watched this one about two years ago. I didn’t care for the book at all but I liked the film a lot. Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw had good chemistry (off screen as well it turns out…) and I liked the changes the film made to the book.

The Outfit (1973)

Based on one of the Parker crime novels by Richard Stark aka Donald Westlake. This is also one I watched just recently. Not a perfect adaptation but pretty darn close. Tarantino considers this film the best Parker adaptation. 

 

Sisters (1973)  

An early film directed by Brian DePalma starring a very young Margot Kidder. Also watched just recently. I like it but not as much as some of his later films. I liked the nods to Alfred Hitchcock. 

Daisy Miller (1974) 

Based on the book by Henry James, directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starring Cybill Shepherd. I didn’t watch this one. It sounds interesting but it's not high on my list.

Taxi Driver (1976) 

Directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Robert De Niro, with a script by Paul Schrader. I watched this years and years ago and I plan to rewatch. 

Rolling Thunder (1977) 

I watched this the first time a few years ago and just rewatched it. I liked it even more the second time. This also has a script by Paul Schrader but according to Tarantino, William Devane’s screenwriter friend Heywood Gould rewrote parts of it as they thought that the original script was much too dark. It worked for me as some of the scenes added by Gould were my favorites. 

Paradise Alley (1978) 

A sports drama directed, written by, and starring Sylvester Stallone that takes place in 1940s Hell's Kitchen, New York. I plan to watch. 

Escape from Alcatraz (1979) 

Directed by Don Siegal and starring Clint Eastwood. Another one I watched years and years ago.

Hardcore (1979)

Written and directed by Paul Schrader and starring George C. Scott. I’m familiar with it but have never watched it. 

The Funhouse (1981)

A horror film directed by Tobe Hooper. I plan to watch and then read the novelization by Dean Koontz which has extra background and characterization.  

Watching Films

Reading Cinema Speculation got me in a movie watching mood and I really wound up watching a lot this month. After watching and rewatching some of the films discussed in the book, I started watching the early films of Alfred Hitchcock. I watched a number of his later films when I was a university student but the only one I remember well is Psycho. 

His really early films aren’t as polished as his later films but there’s evidence of his genius from the beginning, and it’s been interesting seeing how he grows as a director. So far of his early films my favorites are Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and Notorious (1946). Both are so dark and so well written and directed. I got so caught up with his films that I added a Hitchcock list on my Letterboxd page:

‎Alfred Hitchcock , a list of films by JimReddy • Letterboxd

Currently Reading 

I didn’t finish many books this month but I’m still reading. My interest in movies has me reading three film related books now.

Once Upon a Time In Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino (Harper Perennial, 2021)

I love the movie and have had this on the shelf since it was released. It’s interesting so far as it’s not a typical movie novelization. Some scenes are in a different order, some scenes have been left out, and lots of scenes that weren't in the movie have been added. 

The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929 - 1968 by Andrew Sarris (Da Capo Press, 1996) First published in 1968.

This book includes over 200 entries on film directors by film critic Andrew Sarris. Also included are his two essays on auteur theory. His essays helped raise the awareness of the role of the film director in a time when the producer was given more credit. I had heard of the theory before but never knew the details. I learned that the theory began in France with French film critics, including Francois Truffaut before he became a director himself, and that it considers directors as the “author” of their works, putting their unique creative stamps on their films. 

Sarris ranks directors and the ones that don’t make his “Pantheon” category are regulated to lesser categories. It’s all rather subjective but it’s been interesting to read so far. He has good things to say about two of my favorite directors, Budd Boetticher and Alfred Hitchcock. I recently watched Boetticher’s Ranown Series westerns with Randolph Scott and loved them. It was interesting to learn that Sarris was singing the praises of Hitchcock at a time when he was not as well regarded as today and just considered another commercial director. Which leads to the next book…

Hitchcock/Truffaut Revised Edition by François Truffaut (Simon & Schuster, 1985) Originally published in 1966 and revised after Hitchcock’s death to include his final films. 

I’ve been dipping into this while watching Hitchcock’s films. This book is amazing. It’s based on fifty hours of conversations the two directors had over a week about all of Hitchcock’s work. Included are tons of stills from the films as well as photographs from the interviews. 

I learned that this book had a big part of establishing Hitchcock’s reputation as a director and master of suspense. Having never known a time when Hitchcock wasn’t considered a great director this was a surprise to me. It makes sense in hindsight of course, but it was eye opening. 

Thank you Patrick for making me aware of this book! 

Next Month

I’ll be continuing my journey through Hitchcock’s early films before moving on to his later films. Hopefully I’ll get some reading done too. 

Lord of a Shattered Land by Howard Andrew Jones

“He is the lord of a wealthy land.” 

Antires corrected her. “He’s the lord of a shattered land. The Dervans destroyed Volanus.”

This book reminded me of old school historical adventure tales mixed with old school sword and sorcery, while at the same time feeling like something new and its own thing.

The Dervans thought that Hanuvar perished during the siege of Volanus, but he survived and in these fourteen tales he fights to reunite his people. He faces Dervan soldiers, monsters, sorcerers, and spirits. As Hanuvar has his adventures we learn more about his world, its history, and its people. As exciting as the adventures are, the characters are a big reason why I like this book so much, characters on all sides of the conflict.

There’s an interesting variety of stories and although each one is a separate tale; they also move a larger narrative forward. Also, the final story does a great job of bringing threads from previous episodes together while at the same time setting things up for the next book. 

When I read that the author said Hanuvar was inspired by Hannibal and the Punic Wars, I listened to some episodes of the Hardcore History podcast before reading the book. Episodes 21-23, titled Punic Nightmares I-III cover the wars, Hannibal, and the destruction of Carthage really well. While you can enjoy this book without knowing Hannibal’s history, listening to those episodes really added to my enjoyment of the book as I was reading and spotting some of the parallels. 

The map that’s included, the “historical” notes between chapters, and the “historical” footnotes all added to the impression that I was reading the chronicles of a great hero. I’m really looking forward to the further adventures of Hanuvar.