Coming soon, and In A Basement in Vienna...

April 24th sees the release of the second in the Nemesis of the Gods trilogy which began with Wrath of the Ancients.

Emeryk Quintillus is back, bringing all his evil with him, infesting the magnificent house that his damned and obsessed spirit will not leave. Here's what to expect:

Legacy In Death

Egypt, 1908

University student Lizzie Charters accompanies her mentor, Dr. Emeryk Quintillus, on the archeological dig to uncover Cleopatra’s tomb. Her presence is required for a ceremony conducted by the renowned professor to resurrect Cleopatra’s spirit—inside Lizzie’s body. Quintillus’s success is short-lived, as the Queen of the Nile dies soon after inhabiting her host, leaving Lizzie’s soul adrift . . . 

Vienna, 2018

 

Paula Bancroft’s husband just leased Villa Dürnstein, an estate once owned by Dr. Quintillus. Within the mansion are several paintings and numerous volumes dedicated to Cleopatra. But the archeologist’s interest in the Egyptian empress deviated from scholarly into supernatural, infusing the very foundations of his home with his dark fanaticism. And as inexplicable manifestations rattle Paula’s senses, threatening her very sanity, she uncovers the link between the villa, Quintillus, and a woman named Lizzie Charters. 

And a ritual of dark magic that will consume her soul . . .

"Catherine Cavendish can unfailingly be counted on to scare readers senseless as simultaneously we find ourselves totally engrossed with her realistic characters." - The Haunted Reading Room

You can find Waking the Ancients here:

 Amazon

Kensington Publishing 

Barnes and Noble

Apple

Google

Kobo

In case you missed it, here are a couple of reviews of Wrath of the Ancients:

 

“Cavendish has constructed such an elaborate plot—combined with painstaking research into Egyptian mythology—that the fantastical events taking place seem to literally ‘come alive’ on the pages before you.” —horrorafterdark.com 

“Cavendish offers up an atmospheric gothic horror tale that effortlessly blends together history and the supernatural to create an unsettling horror story that will appeal to almost any horror fan.” —thehorrorbookshelf.com 

Kensington Publishing 

Witches of the Silver Screen

Over the Easter break - and following a difficult few weeks - it was lovely simply to kick back and watch some old horror movies. A chance to reconnect with some old favourites and discover some new old favourites (films I missed when they were first released but am now catching up with on the fabulous Horror channel).

As may be obvious from my novel, The Pendle Curse, I am a sucker for a good, gripping witch story - and that applies to films too. The still above is from a classic of the genre - Black Sunday made in 1960. Highly recommended.

The newest Witch film I have seen recently was the 2016 production of The Witch. Now, this has really given me heart because it is a real witch story and stands out in a sea of films which range from the excellent (rarely) to the mundane (frequently).

Seeing the mix of old and new got me thinking. Which era produced the scariest films? The Fifties? Sixties? Eighties? Now? Or maybe earlier. Maybe the time before talkies...


One of the scariest films I ever remember watching was also an old black and white called, simply, Witchcraft (made in 1964 and now released on a Region 1 DVD packaged with Devils of Darkness).

I remember I was around seventeen and BBC had a 'Midnight Movie' every Saturday night. It was usually something scary and they showed some real classics, but there was something about Witchcraft that really got to me. This was a British film and the storyline concerned a 17th century witch, buried alive, whose grave is disturbed and who then wreaks vengeance on the progeny of those who brought her to her fate. The camera shots of her manic stare, the dark and sinister atmosphere and the terror of her victims all conspired to make me grab my cat, hide behind her and, when the film finished, scamper upstairs to bed and hide under the blankets.

Some others you may have missed:

Night of the Eagle made in 1962

Season of the Witch made in 1973

The Witches made in 1966

Burn Witch Burn made in 1962

Ah, they don't make 'em like that anymore. Maybe it's me, maybe it's my age (quite likely!). Possibly I've watched so many horror films over the years since then that I've become desensitised, but, with the exception of the aforementioned The Witch, I just can't remember seeing any recent films featuring a witch that have made me gasp, hide or shudder.

These days, Hollywood witches are all too often like their vampires - generally sparkly, cuddly or out to save the world.

 So when did the Witches of Hollywood turn into Stepford Wives? There has always been a tendency towards the humorous. 1942 saw the film adaptation of a Thorne Smith story, said to be the template for the long running TV series, Bewitched. I Married A Witch saw the glamorous Veronica Lake as Jennifer, a witch who, along with her father, was burnt at the stake in the 17th century and cast a spell on the male descendants of their accusers, the Wooley family, that they should endure miserable marriages, until in the 20th century, she falls for the latest in the line, Wallace. This film is witty and charming.

Bell, Book and Candle in 1958 featured a sexy and sultry Kim Novak as the hapless lovelorn witch - although the real star was, of course, her cat familiar, Pyewacket. Another lighthearted comedy.

 Then in 1987, The Witches of Eastwick burst onto the screens with not one, but three, witches (plus a devil). Now, don't get me wrong, I really like this film. I am a big fan of Cher and the whole film is great fun. It's funny, escapist and pure entertainment. A scary witch film it is not.

Still searching for another scary one. Well fortunately 1968 saw Mia Farrow in the truly terrifying Rosemary's Baby with a whole coven of evil, scheming witches. This one has to be way up there in anyone's top ten of witchy, scary films.

So we move into the Nineties and beyond. The rise of the teenage witch. 1996 saw the release of The Craft, with four troubled teen witches. This spawned a TV series, Charmed, and many emulators.Then along came Practical Magic and for me, it was (mostly) downhill from there.

Of course there's room for them all but, as a horror writer who loves the potential of witches as a source of pure evil (PLEASE NOTE, I am NOT talking about Wiccans here, or any true modern witches, for whom I have the utmost respect), I am always ont he look out for a frighteningly good Hollywood Witch to scare the living daylights out of me. 

Any nominations?

Meanwhile, here's my scary witch story:

 Available from:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Crossroad Press 

Kobo 

Monsters All Around Us - with Russell James

Horror author Russell James and I have shared a number of publishers and I love his work. His latest - Monsters in the Clouds - is no exception. Thrilling horror, with some truly terrifying creatures. He is my guest today and he's brught some of his friends with him...

I’ve written some sci-fi horror stories about giant monsters. Enormous scorpions, killer fish, giant bats, dinosaurs. I try to make these creatures as scary as possible. But in doing my research, I keep finding that I can’t touch Mother Nature and her passion for the macabre.

My latest release, Monsters in the Clouds from Severed Press has giant ants, pterosaurs, and an Ankylosaurus. In my research I found some creepies that put dinosaurs to shame.

The mind-controlling larvae I created in the book are based several real examples.

The emerald cockroach wasp is exceptionally creepy. It stings a cockroach into submission with venom, then steers it with the cockroach’s own antennae into its burrow. Then it bites a hole in the roach, inserts an egg, and buries them both. Junior munches on living roach for a few weeks, goes larval, and emerges as a wasp. Ah, circle of life.

Then there’s the Costa Rican wasp. The adult female wasp temporarily paralyzes a spider and lays an egg on its abdomen. The hatched larva sucks the spider's blood for the next two weeks. Then the larva injects a chemical into the spider which compels it to first build a unique web, and then to sit still in its center. The wasp larva then molts, kills the spider with a poison, and spins a cocoon in the middle of the web. Eventually a new wasp emerges and a new spider starts saying its prayers.

And don’t miss hairworms. They infect dry land crickets when the cricket swallows a larva. The larva then grows and lives inside the cricket. When it is time to emerge, the hairworm drives the cricket into water, where the cricket drowns. But the hairworm can emerge and live on to find a wife, raise a larva, and find a cricket the kid can call home.

Given all that real-life grossness, some fictional horror is just what you need to cleanse the mental pallet. I recommend Monsters in the Clouds, a fun B-movie romp through the Amazon jungle.

Paleontologist Grant Coleman and activist Janaina Silva are recruited by Thana Katsoros for a top secret expedition, one in search of a live Apatosaurus on a plateau deep in the Amazonian rain forest. But their plane crashes short of their destination, and the entire group faces a terrifying fight for survival. This isolated area hosts unknown animals more fearsome than they’d expected, including giant ants and flesh-eating pterosaurs. Even worse, Katsoros’ agenda has more to it than meets the eye, and Grant soon fears that it doesn’t include all of them getting back alive. Will any expedition members survive to be rescued, or will they be devoured by the creatures indigenous peoples call the monsters in the clouds?

Amazon.com 

 Amazon.co.uk

 Russell James grew up on Long Island, New York and spent too much time watching Chiller, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, and The Twilight Zone, despite his parents' warnings. Bookshelves full of Stephen King and Edgar Allan Poe didn't make things better. He graduated from Cornell University and the University of Central Florida.

After a tour flying helicopters with the U.S. Army, he now spins twisted tales best read in daylight. He has written the paranormal thrillers Dark Inspiration, Sacrifice, Black Magic, Dark Vengeance, Dreamwalker, Q Island, and Cavern of the Damned. He has four short story collections, Tales from Beyond, Outer Rim, Forever Out of Time, and Deeper into Darkness.

His wife reads what he writes, rolls her eyes, and says "There is something seriously wrong with you." They live in Florida with two untrainable cats.

Visit his website at Russell James and read some free short stories.

Follow on Twitter @RRJames14, Facebook as Russell R. James, or drop a line complaining about his writing to rrj@russellrjames.com.