trail: Great

Horror Classics from Great Authors

When people think of authors that have written horror classics over the years, they most often think of Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Clive Barker, McCammon, and perhaps a few others. These authors are certainly the best selling of the bunch but by no means the entire spectrum. The horror genre has become much more popular over the years since Stephen King first wrote his best-selling novel “Carrie”, the one book that did more than any other to push the limits of scary literature in the 20th century. After that came a slew of copycat writers, Koontz included, and even Stephen King himself became somewhat stuck in the genre, despite his repeated attempts later in life to break out. Horror classics may be the toughest kind of books to write because with the proliferation of horror movies, most people think they are jaded. Since most people today do not read but rather wait for the movie (which is a big mistake since only one book out of a thousand gets made into a movie) they do not know all of the thrilling chills they are missing. Great horror classics in literature form are far more frightening than their celluloid (or digital) knock-offs. Very few great horror movies have been made from great horror books but the best of the bunch are “The Exorcist” (original book by William Peter Blatty), “Carrie” (Stephen King), and “The Shining” (King once again). One of the greatest books ever written and of the true modern horror classics is “Song of Kali” by Dan Simmons. Published in 1985, Song of Kali tells the story of a poetry editor who goes to Calcutta with his wife and newborn baby girl in order to find some poetry left behind by a supposedly dead poet. What he finds is a filthy, disgusting, criminally insane city that holds deep mysteries, crazed cults, and supernatural terrors far beyond anything he could ever have imagined. Read this one with the light on. “Carrie” by Stephen King is still widely considered the author’s best and one of the enduring horror classics of the last century. King’s ability to turn the mundane, in this case the story of a nerdy, introverted girl being bullied in high school, into a riveting tale of the supernatural is amazing and sheer genius. The great characters that populate Carrie, including her religion crazed mother, are very memorable and you will never forget the ending. Although the movie was good, the book is way better, as they usually always are. Other horror classics include “Something Wicked This Way Comes” by the late, great Ray Bradbury who is better known for his science fiction than his startling horror, and “Ghost Story” by Peter Straub. Both are great books and you should not miss them. Another great author of horror classics is Ramsay Campbell and his great book “The Hungry Moon” will leave you howling. “I Am Legend” by Richard Matheson was turned into a hit Hollywood movie but once again the book is way better.

Horror Classics from Great Authors

When people think of authors that have written horror classics over the years, they most often think of Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Clive Bar...

Great Entertaining Ways for Better Home Security

When I look at some product reviews these days - cars, flat screens, laptops, I'm surprised to see how they often start off talking about how they look. Cars have to be sleek, flat screens have to be sleeker, and laptops have to be thin and shiny. At first I thought that abandoning any pretense of a serious review by starting off with the looks was a little laughable. But then, it occurred to me that to most people (and I grudgingly include myself in this category), any kind of purchase has to look the part. I mean, people rave about the iPhone, even if it doesn't have very good call quality (the latest version of the iPhone apparently has serious problems in this area too). A phone is to speak on; and the iPhone has issues in that area. So why bring this all up to explain home security? It's just that this is a new theory that's doing the rounds with security experts. Whatever it is about your stuff that you love the most, is what attracts the thieves too. If you could dowdy up your most valued stuff, that would be something that would discourage potential thieves from sizing it up. To people who have a passionate interest in keeping their home intruder free when they are out on vacation, the best home security system they can afford is sometimes not enough. In some ways, it seems too easy to simply throw money at the problem. To get creative, they go for the "previously broken into" look. What they do is, right before they leave on a vacation, they tear through their home to make it look like it got hit by hurricane. Drawers get pulled out and their contents spilled, cupboards get emptied on the floor, mattresses get tossed on the floor, and they leave a couple of pretty useless looking pieces of electronic stuff, old computers and the like, in plain sight. The hope is that should a burglar come in, he's going to think right away that this house has been hit already he's going to look at the worthless electronic stuff on display, and decide that this isn't a house worth robbing. This actually does work as a home security measure. But there are other ways to protect your stuff too. As awful as it sounds, there actually is a kind of fringe following for this method of property protection. Let's say that you have a bike that costs something like $2000. You know that taking it apart and tying it to a lamppost doesn't always work. So what you do is, you take a pieces of sandpaper, and liberally apply its effects all over to destroy its look; you slash the seat a bit and tie it up with masking tape. Park out in plain sight on a bike rack on any street, and no thief is going to take a look at it, because he knows it's not marketable. It will work like the top of the range bike it is, but it will look like something you stole from the dumpster. There is a blog by traveling photographer Jimmie Rogers where he talks about the lengths he goes to disguise his expensive camera when he travels to some of the disreputable parts of the world. You can read all about it on his blog, but basically, he says he got mugged, but they left his camera alone, and because he made sure it looked such a nightmare. It doesn't have to just work for home security; it could work for you wherever you go. Would you believe that they make and sell ready-made ugly faceplates for things like your cell phone and your car stereo? There are other great ideas for home security and the security of your other stuff that doesn't involve actually scratching up the new things. Want to protect your nice new iPod from potential thieves? How about a case for your iPod that looks like an old cassette Walkman? Or if you want to protect your money, how about buying a pair of underwear that will come pre-stained? It comes with a little money pocket. The one I like best is the moldy sandwich bag. These are plastic Ziploc bags that have a moldy looking stain printed in the middle. You leave your sandwich in this kind of bag in the office fridge, and no one's going to want to even come near the fridge.

Great Entertaining Ways for Better Home Security

When I look at some product reviews these days - cars, flat screens, laptops, I'm surprised to see how they often start off talking abou...

Great Blog Marketing Techniques

Marketing your blog is not all that hard to do. You have to be persistent and want success however if you want your blog to do well. You cannot just make a post and forget about it. You have to continue updating your blog and marketing it so that it will become popular and one that everyone wants to read. There are other ways as well that are good marketing your blog. Keep reading for more information. Interviewing people and posting it on your blog is an excellent way to market it. Just be sure that the people that you interview pertain to the market of your blog. You want all of your posts to be relevant, including any interviews that you might do. For example, if your blog market was vacuum cleaners, and you did an interview with the owner of Hoover vacuum cleaner; that would definitely pertain to your market. If you hear any news on the market of your blog, be sure that you post it. Everyone loves news, and event he readers of your blog will appreciate you blogging about the current events in the market that you are blogging about. Something to keep in mind when blogging about the news is the more current the news, the better. No one wants to reread old news, so it is a great idea to try and stay as current as possible when you are blogging about the news. Contests are another way that you effectively market your blog. Having contests on various things would be a lot of fun, and something that will keep your readers coming back. Everyone loves to win things, and you can also make the prize that you are giving away relevant to the market you are promoting on your blog. While good content is something that you will need for your blog, you also want to ensure that it is original content as well. You can market a blog with something that is copied and that you do not own the rights. Plagiarism will get you in trouble with Google as well as the person that originally wrote the content. Be sure that all of your posts are ones that only you own the rights too. This is a great thing to know and do when you are marketing your blog. Press releases are also an excellent way to market your blog. Sending out a press release or having one made for you is a great idea. You will find that they are even affordable for most budgets, and some companies offer a package deal for example, if you let us write your press release we will submit it for half price. Who could resist a deal such as that? Especially when you are budgeting and trying to get the most from your funds. Comments on a blog are also a very important aspect of blog marketing. You will want to be sure that you always answer and acknowledge the comments that are made to your blog as well as others. When you show that you are an actual person that can hold a conversation, you are showing others that you are real and that you really and truly have the best intentions for your blog. Make sure that no comment goes unanswered. Marketing a blog comes naturally for some and can be a little harder to focus on for others. Another important thing that you will want to do for your blog is to be sure that you find links. Exchange links, get one way links, and ask for more and more links. You will never have enough links to your blog. The more links the better in this case. Blog marketing is not hard to do. Just be sure that you follow all of the proven and tried techniques that others are talking about and you wont go wrong. Just don’t give up and keep on marketing because it will pay off sooner or later.

Great Blog Marketing Techniques

Marketing your blog is not all that hard to do. You have to be persistent and want success however if you want your blog to do well. You can...